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THE 


TRANCE 



AND 


► BY LAROY SUNDERLAND, 

AUTHOR OF “TIIE COOK OF nCMAN NATURE,” “THE DYNAMIC CUES, 'WITHOUT MEDICINE," 

“TIIE MANUAL OF SELF-HEALING,’’ ETC. 


CHICAGO : 

Published by James Walker, at tee Office of the Liberal. 


1868 , 












Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year I860, by 
LaRoy Sunderland, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 




JUL 2 5 i960 



STEREOTYPED AT THE 


BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 





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vi 




































































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PRELIMINARY. 


In Philosophical investigations, we first inquire as 
to what has occurred, what has been done, what has 
come to pass, what are the phenomena? And, this 
question answered, we then ask as to how it was 
done? In what manner? By what cause or causes? 
If more than one cause may be assigned, then w'e 
must guard against the multiplication of causes, for 
one and the same event. One adequate cause is suf¬ 
ficient, and we must not seek for extraordinary causes 
when we find others that are common and sufficient. 
Our first observations must be of effects. When un¬ 
able to penetrate beneath the external appearance of 
things, we fail in our attempts to search the world 
of causes. Hence the necessity of knowing all the 
phenomena; not a part, but the whole; so that, if 
able to describe all that has occurred, and also to 
trace the relation which phenomena sustain to each 
other, as to the sense in which one goes before, as 
the cause, and another, which follows, as the effect, 
we have done all, perhaps, which human intelligence 



VI 


PRELIMINARY. 


can do, in determining as to the Essence, the Form, 
and the Uses of things. We may not comprehend 
the essential nature of anything. It is the phenom¬ 
ena that we investigate, because all-we first know of 
Nature are “ the things that appear.” The laws that 
go before w’e determine only by our knowledge of 
the phenomena. The Forces which induce phenom¬ 
ena are invisible, always; and we comprehend the 
former only as we are in a condition for an accurate 
judgment of the latter. The effects must first ap¬ 
pear ; and there must be opportunities and capacities 
for observing and judging of all that Nature does. 
We must know all the elements, all that has oc¬ 
curred, and to determine this question alone, all of 
man’s external senses, and all the intellectual facul¬ 
ties, may be necessary. Before we can advance one 
step in the Philosophy of things, we must know all 
that has occurred, all the elements, all results, — what 
has been done. And this problem fully solved, we 
may hope to find a satisfactory answer to the others, 
as to the cause or causes, and the purposes to be 
subserved, in the results they have induced. 

That state called “ the trance ” never attracted so 
much attention as at the present time; and accom¬ 
panied as it often is with other mysterious results, 
alleged to be produced by inhabitants of another 
world, it is not, perhaps, surprising that it should 
sometimes have been thus accounted for erroneously. 


PRELIMINARY. vii 

The author has himself (since the year 1849 ) wit¬ 
nessed a variety of physical phenomena, represented 
by the so-called “ Mysterious Rap,” that cannot be 
accounted for by Pathetism, however true it is that 
this Science may be relied upon for explaining all 
phenomena that are purely human. 

Nor is it difficult to suppose that invisible personages, 
which exert power over physical bodies, may, also, 
under certain conditions, exert an effluence, direct or 
suggestive, over the nervous systems, of mortals. I 
say 'personages , because, in these “ mysterious ” phenom¬ 
ena there are manifested all the necessary characteristics 
for demonstrating mentality , such as we find in Intelli¬ 
gence , Ratiocination , Music (made without any human 
organs, or instruments), Love , Hatred , Mischief, Mirth , 
and all those elements which indicate attributes that 
inhere in Mind. 

But the contemplation of these u mysteries ” does not 
come within the design of this work; the scope of 
which is the examination of phenomena that are merely 
human, or Psychological; and whatever may be the 
remote or suggestive cause of the Trance in any given 
case, we shall find, I think, that the immediate cause 
is in the patient’s own nervous system ; the change is 
never so much, as has generally been supposed, to be 
attributed to the mere volition of another. 

These pages contain the results of the author’s ex¬ 
periments and observations, continued now for more 


viii 


PRELIMINARY. 


that forty years. The story is here told as the phenom¬ 
ena have reported themselves to him. Whether the 
facts have been correctly understood or not, others must 
judge, who, with superior capacities and opportunities, 
witness them as he has done. In his own mind these 
phenomena have put the fact beyond all doubt as to the 
Power of Self-Induction , which inheres in the Economy 
of life. By this power the mind withdraws itself from 
the consciousness of pain ; it cures diseases ; it induces 
the so-called “ change of heart ” in “ revivals of re¬ 
ligion ; ” it brings on the Trance, and often induces 
other changes, which have been attributed to God or 
to the Devil. A Power so marvellous in its results can 
but make itself known, as indeed the so-called “ Trance 
State” has done during the past fifteen years in this 
country; and, sooner or later, I am sure, it must receive 
that consideration which the part it plays in mental 
phenomena so evidently demands from all who are 
competent for judgiug accurately as to the rationale of 
its manifold operations. 


Boston, October 1,18C6. 


THE TRANCE 


HISTORICAL. 

“ Sit mihi fas audita loqui-” 

What I have heard permit me to relate. 

My recollections of the nervous phenomena peculiar 
to sectarian revivals extend back to the year 1808 . I 
was then among the Baptists, in Exeter, Rhode Island. 
The preacher was Gershom Palmer. I suppose he may 
be still living, for I saw the old man only two years 
since. “ Elder Palmer ” was always proverbial for a pe¬ 
culiar cough or hitch, — an “ ahem ” he had made in his 
voice while “ holding forth ” in his prayers and sermons. 
His thoughts were not numerous, and did not flow very 
fast; and so when “ waiting for ” an idea, and not hav¬ 
ing any word at command, he found it very convenient 
to lean upon this cough, or “ a-a-h-h-m,” until the ap¬ 
propriate word turned up in his mind. 

Here are some verses of one of his hymns, and I do 
well remember having heard my mother and others sing 
them more than fifty years ago : — 

“ Hark ! hear the sound on earth is found, 

My soul delights to hear 
Of dying love that’s from above, 

Of pardon bought so dear. 


( 9 ) 



10 


PATHETISM. 


“ God’s ministers, like flaming fire, 
Are passing through the land ; 
The voice is here, repent and fear, 
King Jesus is at hand.” 


During the spring of 1822, I became myself the 
subject of a “revival,” and obtained an experimental 
knowledge of all those nervous and mental states 
which result from religious sectarian appeals made 
to the organs of marvellousness and fear — such 
states as are well known under the terms of “ convic¬ 
tion,” “repentance,” “prayer,” “faith,” “conversion,” 
“ witness of the Spirit,” “ sanctification,” and the “ love 
of God shed abroad in the heart.” The characteristics 
of all revival preaching, always and every where, are, 
that it makes its appeals to the organs of credulity and 
fear ; it tells you what to believe, but never tells you to 
think for yourself. Precisely like what you witness in 
the experiments in what has been called “Electrical 
Psychology; ” the “ subjects ” experimented upon are 
never rationally instructed to think themselves , never 
assisted in really originating ideas, but they are com¬ 
manded, dictated, domineered over, and told what to 
believe , and hence the results which follow all such 
appeals to the organs of wonder. There is, indeed, a 
vast difference between that philosophy and that preach¬ 
ing or experimenting which tells you what to think, and 
that other higher method which tells you to think 
yourself. 

My sectarian experience culminated, in 1823, in a 
strong belief that I had a “ great mission ” to perform, 
a la mode of the spiritual media of the present day. 
And so, June 9, in Walpole, Massachusetts, I com¬ 
menced my public career as an experimenter upon the 


HISTORICAL. 


11 


mind of man. The audience was composed of young 
people, and quite small. My sermon was addressed 
wholly to the organs of marvellousness; my assump¬ 
tions, like all other revivalists, were based upon tradi¬ 
tion and under the pains of an eternal hell. I told my 
audience what to believe. And now observe the success 
that followed the first experiment of the kind which I 
had ever performed. My audience were completely 
pathetized with my views and feelings; they believed 
what I told them to believe; and the consequence was, 
their peculiar states of mind overcame their nervous 
systems. They wept, fell upon the floor, became cold 
and rigid in their muscular systems; their eyes Avere 
closed, or elevated and set; some of them fell into a 
state of trance, and all the singing, praying, rejoicing, 
and other manifestations which took place during that 
sermon, Ave supposed to have been produced by the 
“pOAver of the Holy Ghost,” operating on the minds of 
the people. And so I think now it Avas the work of 
God, precisely as that was the work of God in the Odd 
FelloAvs’ Hall, Philadelphia, March 2, 1847, when, 
twenty-four years after, I had two hundred and fifty 
people entranced during one lecture on Pathetism. 
God was the same, and human nature the same, in both 
cases. It is a discovery I ha\ T e made since 1823, that 
God and the essential elements and laws of the human 
mind never change. 

For some seA T enteen years I exercised the functions 
of a revival preacher, up to 1835; but for the past 
tAventy-five years I haA T e been free from sectarianism, 
and my object has been more and more to exercise the 
attributes of a true and harmonious manhood, by which 
1 might teach and influence others to think — not, as 


12 


PATHETISM. 


when a sectarian, to tell them what to think, but now, 
rather to stimulate others to think for themselves, to 
originate ideas, and to dare to avow them. And now, 
on the contemplation of the influences which I have 
exerted in various ways over men, first under the name 
of Religion, and then under the name of Pathetism, 
the true philosophy becomes more and more manifest 
by which I have succeeded in my experiments from first 
to last. Let us look at some of them. 

In 1823, there occurred on Cape Cod what has since 
been called “The Great Revival;” and if you look into 
Zion’s Herald , the Methodist paper then published in 
Boston, you will find, some time during October, 1823, 
a letter from Rev. Lewis Bates, giving an account of its 
commencement in Yarmouth, (now Yarmouth Port,) 
“ under the preaching of Brother S., a youth of nine¬ 
teen.” August 30, 1823, I preached at the Methodist 
church in Chatham, Massachusetts, commencing at the 
usual hour in the morning. Before I had spoken ten 
minutes, the audience were completely convulsed with 
emotions, so much so that I left the pulpit, and stood 
within the altar, which was immediately surrounded by 
the people pressing “ forward for prayers; ” some wring¬ 
ing their hands, and smiting their breasts in agonies of 
grief; others prostrate and groaning upon the floor; 
while others, in a state of trance and ecstatic joy, were 
clapping their hands, and shouting aloud “ the praises 
of the Lord.” The entire assembly were tossed and 
driven about, beyond all bounds of restraint. A little 
girl, about eleven years old, feeling herself “ converted,” 
and looking upon the preacher as “ God’s chosen instru¬ 
ment of so great a deliverance,” leaped for joy, and 
rushing over the people, she threw her little arms 


HISTORICAL. 


13 


around my neck, and showered upon me kisses and 
blessings, till, becoming exhausted, she too sank down 
upon the floor. 

There was no intermission for dinner, but this ex¬ 
citement continued till nightfall, when the meeting was 
dismissed; and as they retired from the church, over 
the hills and valleys in the distance, I heard their voices 
elevated in exclamations of fear of that “ angry God,” 
of whom I had commanded them to stand in awe. 

The same evening I held a meeting at a private house 
— Mr. Reuben Ryder’s — where similar results occurred. 
There were present two young ladies from Boston by 
the name of O., who were “struck down” upon the 
floor, and from wdiich they could not rise until about 
two o’clock the next morning. The exclamations of 
the elder sister were so singular that I am tempted to 
quote them here; as near as I can get at them, these 
were her words: “ O dear, suzzie day! O dear, suzzie 
day!” And this was rapidly repeated for some hours, 
when both of them were “.converted,” and they joined 
the others in hymns of joy and praise. In the spring 
of 1824, I was invited to preach in Dennis, Massachu¬ 
setts. On the day (the annual fast) that I arrived in 
town, the two men who had invited me were absent, 
gunning. A messenger was despatched after them, and 
on hearing that I had coine, they hastened home, threw 
their game upon the floor, and before they reached the 
school house where I was to preach, they were “ struck 
with the power of God.” They bellowed so as to be 
heard at a distance, and, in a state of frenzy, they 
rushed into the meeting, tearing their hair, and thresh- 
ino’ the seats with their fists. The entire audience soon 
“ chimed in ” with these manifestations, and then com- 

2 


14 


PATHETISM. 


menced a scene which language is inadequate for de¬ 
scribing. I did not attempt to preach; indeed, how 
could I, when every throat in the house was opened, 
with vociferous groans, prayers, shouts, exclamations of 
grief, fear, hope, faith, and joy; and this uproar was 
kept up until two o’clock that night. I uttered never 
one word designed to produce that outburst, and, of 
course, I did not know how to quell it, even if I had 
supposed that to be desirable. These results were not 
induced by the will-power of the preacher, for he could 
not exercise any volition over persons of whom he had 
no knowledge, or over results that were as unexpected, 
when they did occur, to the preacher as to any one else. 

As the meeting broke up, a Captain Crowell invited 
us all to assemble at his new house the next day, at nine 
o’clock. He said his house was not quite finished, but 
he had contemplated a regular “ house warming ” when 
it was done, and it should be dedicated by the preacher 
then present, if they would agree to come there the 
next day. 

At the hour, the next morning, the house was filled, 
and Captain Crowell was one of the first who were 
“struck down.” His age was twenty-five, he weighing 
about one hundred and sixty pounds, and it was “ a 
sight ” to see that man laid flat on his back, foaming 
and praying, unable to rise; indeed, he and others re¬ 
mained “under the influence” till nine o’clock that 
evening. 

The next day my meeting was held at Captain Isaiah 
Baker’s, where scenes were developed similar to those 
already described. At this meeting I held some con¬ 
versation with two young men by the name of Crowell. 
They were shoemakers, and immediately after, they 


HISTORICAL. 


15 


went to their shop to resume the work they had left; 
and, curious to relate, they were no sooner seated upon 
their benches, with their leather and their tools in their 
hands, than “the power of God” came upon them, and 
they were struck stiff and helpless! They shouted 
aloud for “mercy,” and the alarm was soon spread 
through the neighborhood as to what had happened in 
the shop. Men, women, and children flocked around to 
see and hear, and a messenger was despatched for me to 
come and “pray for them.” On entering the shop, it 
was, indeed, “a sight to behold.” There were those 
young men paralyzed on their benches; one had a shoe 
on his knee, and his hammer in his hand, and the other 
had his awl and his waxed thread, with which he was 
about to commence sewing, when “ the power came 
upon him.” They were cold and stiff, and horribly 
frightened. They thought God or the devil had got 
hold of them, sure enough, for they could neither drop 
their tools nor leave their seats; and among those who 
crowded into the shop to see what was going on, others 
were similarly affected. One young man I noticed, 
who seemed driven, as if by some invisible power, 
around the shop, over some leather, and against the 
wall with great force. 

The next Sunday, a lady was seized by this “in¬ 
fluence ” in the street, and rushing up among the people 
as they were leaving the Orthodox church in the morn¬ 
ing, she addressed them in a strain of censure which 
affrighted and astonished all who heard her. Her eyes 
were set, and her muscular system very much excited; 
she walked around, addressing words of rebuke to one 
and another, as their peculiar cases seemed to require; 
and to the minister of that church she dealt out a 


16 


PATHETISM. 


double portion, as she considered him unconverted— a 
blind man leading the blind, the whole of whom were 
now ready to fall into the ditch of hell together. 

Similar results followed my religious harangues in 
Dorchester, Boston, Dedham, Scituate, and Weymouth, 
Massachusetts, in 1824 and 1825. Two men are now 
preaching who were “ converted ” “ under my labors ” 
during this year. One is the Rev. Daniel I. Robinson, 
now a “ Second Adventist; ” the other is Rev. Edward 
Othman, now a clergyman in the Protestant Episcopal 
church. He graduated at Brown University in 1830, 
and was formerly a Methodist. 

During a sermon I preached in Scituate, in the sum¬ 
mer of 1824, a young lady, now the wife of Rev. Charles 
S. McReading, “fell into a state of trance,” and when 
the meeting was over she could not leave her seat. In 
my meetings, it was Gammon for people to become thus 
affected, and I have witnessed, at these times, all those 
varieties of nervous phenomena which have since oc¬ 
curred under the name of Mesmerism, “ Electrical Psy¬ 
chology,” and Spiritism — such as jerking, twitching, 
laughing, weeping, dancing, singing, praying, preaching, 
rolling over like a hoop, jumping like a frog, running, 
groaning, coughing, gaping, kissing, shaking, besides the 
visions of heaven, hell, and the deep trance, which lasted 
sometimes for many days. My “ converts ” “ saw the 
angels;” they “saw Jesus Christ,” and even God, and 
the devil. For, it must be understood, all “revival” 
ministers believe in the devil, as really as they believe 
in Jesus Christ. Nor would it be possible ever to “get 
up ” a sectarian revival, where there is no previous faith 
in that old boss devil. The fear of hell fire, and the 
warnings against the “ wiles of the devil ” who stirs up 


HISTORICAL. 


17 


the sulphurous flames for the torment of sinners, is a 
part, and a necessary parcel, of that mental apparatus 
by which all sectarian revivals are got up; and these 
views constitute the burden of those appeals to marvel¬ 
lousness and caution by which persons of a certain 
temperament are frightened, and set to “praying for 
mercy,” that they may escape from the “ wrath to come.” 

From December, 1835, to July, 1842, I was propri¬ 
etor and editor of The Watchman and the Magnet, 
published at No. 28 Fulton Street, New York, and the 
columns of these periodicals afforded me ample oppor¬ 
tunity for communicating with the public on the new 
theory, and the method I had adopted for its demon¬ 
stration. It was in this Watchman that I commenced 
(August 28, 1841) a series of articles under the head of 
“Mental Phenomena,” in which this theory was set 
forth. In June, 1842, I issued the first number of the 
Magnet, which was continued two years, devoted espe¬ 
cially to the investigation of the Trance and its correl¬ 
ative phenomena. In these papers I gave some view's 
which I supposed to be original in respect to methods 
for inducing and producing those nervous results so 
common in all “revivals of religion,” so called, and 
showed their identity with those phenomena denomi¬ 
nated Mesmeric. These views were soon after quoted 
with approbation in Blackwood’s (London) Magazine, in 
a series of “ Letters on the Truths contained in Popular 
Superstitions,” and more recently, in a work entitled 
“Religions of the World,” by T. D. Nichols; and I may 
now add that, as far as I can learn, they have been 
received by the candid of all parties, as the most con¬ 
sistent and satisfactory solution of the problem, in 
respect to all those strange and mysterious nervous 
2 * 


18 


PATHETISM. 


states so common in panics, and mental or spiritual 
epidemics. 

The first “ Mesmeric ” operation I ever witnessed was 
performed at my house, 181 Varick Street, New York, 
in 1839, by Rev. C. S. McReading, on his wife, and to 
whom I have before referred, as she had been first 
entranced under a sermon she heard from me some 
fourteen years before! Of course, my curiosity was 
excited when I found, as I did by free conversation 
with that excellent lady, that “ the state ” brought on 
by the “ Mesmeric ” processes of her husband was iden¬ 
tical with that produced by my sermon. And it was 
on “ this hint ” that the germ of the new theory was 
formed; and thus it was I commenced my investiga¬ 
tions in nervous phenomena, which have been continued 
to the present time. 

In 1841, I instituted a series of experiments in the 
New York Museum, then under the charge of R. Peale, 
Esq. Wishing for assistance, I requested Mr. O. S. 
Fowler, the phrenologist, and the late Dr. Henry H. 
Sherwood, to join me in my investigations. These ex¬ 
periments were performed principally upon a lady who 
was totally blind, and they were witnessed by a large 
number of scientific and professional gentlemen in New 
York and vicinity, during the summer and fall of that 
year, among whom were Dr. Griscom, Dr. A. Ball, Prof. 
Charles A. Lee, Prof. J. J. Mapes, and others, some of 
whom bore the following testimony fo their success : —. 

“ The subscribers have witnessed numerous experiments performed 
by LaRoy Sunderland, by which the mental exercises of the patient, 
such as laughing, singing, and the states of mind resembling madness, 
monomania, insanity, &c., were brought on and removed in a few sec¬ 
onds of time. H. H. Sherwood, M. D., Rev. Isaac Covert, Rev. J. 
H. Martyn, 0. S. Fowler, Prof. E. Wright, Daniel L. M. Peix- 
etto, M. D., President of the N. Y. Medical Society. Neto York. 
March 2, 1842.” 


HISTORICAL. 


19 


“The new discoveries in Psychology, which Mr. Sunderland pro¬ 
poses to unfold, are indeed of the most astonishing character, and, 
substantiated, will place Pathetism among the most important of the 
positive sciences. We know LaRoy Sunderland; and we can say, with 
the utmost confidence, that neither his integrity nor sagacity will be 
questioned by any who enjoy his acquaintance.” — New York Tribune, 
Feb. 23, 1842. 

The investigations here referred to were carried on at 
considerable expense, not for amusement, but for the 
sole purpose of scientific inquiry. The one all-pervading 
design, from first to last, has been to find out the laws 
which govern the nervous system in the induction of 
the Trance, and its kindred phenomena. 

The distinguishing Idea, the “Keystone” of this 
New Theory of Mind, assumed, taught, and demon¬ 
strated this important principle , viz.: That when a 
relation is once established between an operator (or 
any given substance, real or imaginary, as the agent) 
and his patient , corresponding changes may be induced 
in the nervous system of the latter (awake or entranced) 
by suggestions addressed to either of the external senses , 
and in some cases by the mere volition of the operator. 
Pathetism teaches that all the nervous phenomena 
known under the name of Perkins’s Tractors, Mesmer¬ 
ism, and Neurology, are self induced. And a similar 
remark may be made in respect to all those nervous 
phenomena known in revivals, and more recently, under 
the name of Spiritism. Observe, I am speaking of ner¬ 
vous phenomena, those phenomena which depend upon 
the nervous system always. Nervous results must be 
induced by influences that operate upon the nervous 
system. During the past winter (1860) accounts have 
been published in Europe, and throughout this country, 
(Boston Evening Traveller, Dec. 30, 1859,) of experi¬ 
ments lately performed in Paris, confirmatory of this 
Theory of self-induction. The writer says, — 


20 


PATHETISM. 


“Monsieur Velpeau, the eminent surgeon, whose fame is wide as the 
world, made the strange communication. He stated that an honorable 
surgeon or physician (he vouched for the gentleman’s character) named 
Brocca Rocca, had made the following experiment: 

“ He had placed before the face of a person, between the person’s 
eyes, and at a distance of fifteen or twenty centimetres (a centimetre is 
a French measure of length — 0. 393.708 inch in value,) a rather bril¬ 
liant object (un objet un peu brillant .) Make the person look fixedly 
at this object. In a few minutes the person will squint, and will soon 
fall into catalepsy, and be spontaneously deprived of all sensibility.” 

The operator in Paris does not seem to have heard 
of similar experiments performed in England, by Mr. 
Braid, as long ago as 1843, nor of the results common 
in this country, under the name of Pathetism. But the 
fact is certainly interesting, that similar results have 
been induced all over the world, and by so many dif¬ 
ferent processes, of “ impressing ” the minds of suscepti¬ 
ble people. Thus the phenomena are self-induced , and 
the Theory of Pathetism is demonstrated, whatever the 
agent may be supposed to be. It is the thought , the 
belief the idea in the mind of the patient, which con¬ 
stitutes the proximate cause. Thus it was in the case 
of Perkins’s Tractors, Mesmerism, “Magnetic passes.” 
Thus, Reichenbach talked his notion of the “ od ” into 
the minds of the nervous women upon whom he op¬ 
erated ; and thus it is, often, that the idea of “ spirits ” 
is worked into people, until they are completely “ pos¬ 
sessed,” “ impressed,” and carried away with that belief, 
and, in that state of things, it becomes an easy matter 
for such persons to sink into a state of trance, more or 
less strange and abnormal it may be. 

Some historical account of the manner in which my 
mind was put upon this investigation, and also some 
account of the phenomena which resulted from my 
method of operating in public, has now been given. 
But as this question of method must be kept in view in 
order to come at another, still higher, in respect to Use, 


HISTORICAL. 


21 


it may be necessary to give the facts somewhat more in 
detail. And the following will be sufficient to show in 
what respects the Idea of Pathetism comprehends all 
of Mesmerism, and exceeds all that can be done by 
operating through one of the external senses merely: — 

1. Pathetism operated and produced all the results 
of Mesmerism,, without the labor of the will, or its 
peculiar processes. It had always been objected to 
“Animal Magnetism,” that the “efforts” of the “will” 
imposed upon the operator were exhausting to his sys¬ 
tem, and often injurious. 

2. Pathetism produces the same and more results, 
without the labor of the “ will,” and on persons “ wide 
awake,” while they are perfectly conscious of external 
relations and things. 

3. It has the vast advantage of producing the same 
results, (not on one individual,) but on one, or a hun¬ 
dred, at the same time! In one of my public Lectures 
in Philadelphia, one of the audience counted and an¬ 
nounced that there were not less than two hundred and 
fifty Fascinated at the same time! 

4. Pathetism produces all the jffienomena often with¬ 
out requiring any conditions of the patient / and it is 
the only theory that can consistently attempt to do so. 
In “Mesmerism” you must (at first, certainly) gaze at 
the patient, and take hold of his hands. In “Neurol¬ 
ogy,” you must touch your patient, in some form. So 
in “ Hypnotism,” you must have the sense of sight , and 
the patient must fix his eyes upon something. But not 
so (necessarily) with Pathetism; it produces results, 
and tells how they are produced, when no conditions 
whatever are required of the patient! 

5. Pathetism operates without (always) requiring any 


22 


PATHETISM. 


conditions from the attending spectators ! Thus multi¬ 
tudes have been affected and brought completely under 
my control, while there has been any amount of noise, 
mirth, and excitement throughout the entire audience. 
In thousands of instances I have controlled persons 
“immediately in their muscular emotions and mental 
impressions,” in my public audiences, when they (the 
audience) were overwhelmed with emotion, and carried 
almost to frenzy in their excitement. In those cases 
there were, there could be, no “ mesmeric passes,” no 
“coin,” no “zinc and copper,” nor any other object to 
gaze at, no “ profound silence,” no “ electro-reactive con¬ 
ditions ” required. 

6. Pathetism operates on the entire audience at one 
and the same time, a thing never attempted or done by 
any other theory, old or new. 

7. It operates not only on persons in the “ normal ” 
or waking state, but it carries them into the higher 
states of Trance and Ecstasy , and in these states in¬ 
duces phenomena without addressing either one of the 
external senses. 

8. It dispenses with the unfounded notions in respect 
to the pretended “electricity” of the “Tractors” of 
Perkins, the “zinc and copper” “coin” And when 
results are produced by using certain substances, as 
“coin,” or a piece of charcoal, this theory shows how it 
is that they come to pass. 

9. The method of Pathetism compelled persons to 
come out from my public audiences, and place them¬ 
selves on my platform! It may be an easy thing to 
experiment on persons after they have left the audience, 
and seated themselves near to the operator; but not so 
common to experiment upon them, and thus cause them 


HISTORICAL. 


23 


to leave their seats, even before they had any suspicion 
of anfinfluence exerted over them! 

10. And more! I have, by Pathetism, controlled 
persons not only “ immediately,” even before they had 
taken their seats in my public lecture room, but I have 
also Fascinated them at a distance of a mile, and in 
that state have drawn them to my hall! 

11. Pathetism is original in causing one entranced 
person to perform experiments upon another, as, for 
instance, I first entrance A, then A entrances B, and B 
entrances C, and so on from one to fifty. 

12. Pathetism is original in causing surgeons to 
operate in public, while both the surgeon and his 'patient 
are in a state of Trance , without the use of the external 
senses. Dr. H. J. Paine, in 1845, then of Troy, New 
York, (now at San Francisco,) also Dr. A. L. Hoyt, in 
Tremont Temple, Boston, 1846, and Dr. J. Thiers, in 
Coliseum Hall, New York, 1847, are among the number 
who have been controlled by Pathetism in this way. 

Some three years after my investigations at the New 
York Museum, I commenced public lecturing, and here 
is one of my first advertisements: — 

“ Mesmerism Explained. — Mr. Sunderland will give a Lecture this 
evening, at eight o’clock, in his rooms, Granite Building, 73 Chambers 
Street, in which he will show the falsity of the prevalent assumptions 
in relation to what has been called ‘ Mesmerism,’ and ‘ Neurology.’ 

“ Mr. S. will cause a person to fall into a state of trance, and produce 
the real Somnambulic Phenomenon, without contact, or the use of any 
fluid, magnetic or nervous. July 23, 1843.” — New York Sun. 

These lectures were continued in the principal cities 
throughout the country for the space of ten years, and 
the reception that this new Theory seemed to meet 
with among all classes of candid people, may, perhaps, 
have proved a temptation to a few who made efforts to 
present what they called a “new science,” under sem- 


24 


PATHETISM. 


blance of “ electro ” and “ electrical ” fame. However 
spasmodical these efforts were, the results developed 
under these terms are, I take it, only so many evidences 
in favor of the theory of self-induction. Nor would 
these misapplied terms be worthy of notice here, were 
it not necessary in order to do justice to the history of 
Pathetism. For it is a singular fact, that the lecturer, 
foremost, perhaps, in the use of these new terms for 
designating nervous phenomena, known years before 
under the name of Pathetism, — this same person was 
lecturing in Boston, in 1844, against this very Idea of 
“ controlling persons wide awake,” which he afterwards 
claimed as his own “ discovery.” And if you examine 
the Boston daily papers of December 16,1843, you will 
find his name to a formal challenge which he made to 
me to meet him in a public discussion on the question! 
These are his words: — 

“ I would say that I am perfectly willing to meet Mr. Sunderland in 
a public controversy in Boston, as soon as the preliminary arrange¬ 
ments can be mutually agreed upon between us. I have been absent 
from this city six weeks, returned yesterday, and do not know where 
Mr. Sunderland may be. But as soon as this meets his eye, I should 
be glad to hear from him. I am anxious to put our respective theories 
to the test in a public oral discussion. Can we hear from Mr. Sunder¬ 
land ? ” — Boston Daily Mail, Dec. 16, 1843. 

This challenge was not accepted. And so, in the 
papers of December 29, 1843, an advertisement ap¬ 
peared, of which the following is an extract: — 

“ Mesmerism . — Mr. - will, by urgent request of his friends, 

deliver a course of five lectures, in Tremont Temple, against the no- 
Jluid system of Mr. Sunderland — commencing Monday evening, Jan. 1, 
1844.” — Boston Daily Mail, Dec. 29, 1843. 

And from the audience, as it would seem, assembled 
on the occasion announced in the foregoing advertise¬ 
ment, I received “notice” to appear and defend the 
theory of Pathetism (controlling persons who had not 


HISTORICAL. 


25 


been mesmerised) against the assaults proposed to be 
made upon it. And here is my answer to that notice: — 

Charlestown, Jan. 2, 1844. 

To Mr. George P. Oakes. Dear Sir: Yours of yesterday 
has been received, in which you inform me that the audience 
assembled the last evening at the Tremont Temple to listen to a 

lecture by Rev.-, adopted the following preamble 

and resolution, viz.: 

“ Whereas, Mr.-intends to make an attack to-morrow 

evening upon the system of LaRoy Sunderland, who has lectured 
in this city on Pathetism, therefore, 

“ Resolved, That it is the desire of this audience that Mr. Sun¬ 
derland have the liberty to meet here and defend himself against 
such attack; and that the difference in their views be fairly dis¬ 
cussed, and the difference in their experiments be fully exhibited.” 

In reply to this and other implied invitations to engage in a pub¬ 
lic controversy on the subject of Pathetism, I have to observe, — 

1. That my Theory is before the world, not only in the second 
volume of the Magnet, but also in my work on Pathetism, pub¬ 
lished nearly a year since. Those who wish for information on 
that Theory will of course consult my work, or attend my own 
lectures, in which it is my object to explain it. They will not 
receive the second hand, and, in many cases, erroneous reports 
of my lectures or experiments, made by those who do not under¬ 
stand what my views are, or the nature of the facts and argu¬ 
ments by which they are supported. 

2. The “ difference ” between my experiments and those per¬ 
formed by such as do not understand my theory, could not well 
be exhibited to advantage during the excitement of a public con¬ 
troversy. If the reality of my experiments be admitted, the 
opposite theory falls to the ground; but the effects of a debate 
on a promiscuous audience would render it very difficult for me 
to operate on any considerable number of persons who had never 
been affected by this agency before. And, it is easy to see, that 
the question at issue must be settled by facts, by experiments, 
and not by a dispute between two theorists. 

3. I do not believe that a controversy of this kind would have 

a tendency to advance the interests of this subject. People are 
not generally convinced in the heat and excitement of debate; 
what they want is facts, or experiments, which they can ex¬ 
amine candidly without prejudice, and from which they can draw 
their own inferences as to the nature of that agency by which 
they are performed. Respectfully, 

LAROY SUNDERLAND. 

3 




26 


PATHETISM. 


The reader can now, perhaps, appreciate the bearing 
of the following extracts from a book published by 
Messrs. Fowlers & Wells, in 1850, in which this same 
“ electro-biological ” lecturer claims the germ of Pathe- 
tism as his own discovery! He says, — 

“ Some have supposed, and even published, that the secret could be 
told to any one in a moment. The printer and vender of such an 
anonymous publication are liable to a prosecution from Fowlers & 
Wells, for trespassing upon their copyright.” 

Well, now, this is funny enough, to come from the 
lecturer who opposed the “no-fluid theory ” in 1844. 
But it is not all. Hear him again : — 

“ If there is an individual in existence who has taken persons from 
a public audience, who has not been Mesmerized, nor operated upon, 
and immediately controlled them in their muscular motions and mental 

impressions, till it was done by Dr.- - and myself, I am 

ignorant of the fact. Such experiments I have never seen advertised 
for public exhibition, nor have I ever read them in published works.” 

However, these notions in respect to a “ new science ” 
under the name of “ Electros ” and “ Electricals,” like 
Perkins’s Tractors, have had their day, and have died 
out, and perhaps, to be revived, under some new terms, 
and are yet to be “ discovered ” and re-discovered many 
times, before the multitude will be made to understand 
the real sources of cupidity, and the appropriate func¬ 
tion of marvellousness in the human mind. 

And while on this part of our history, perhaps a pass¬ 
ing notice should be given to certain “electrical” oc¬ 
currences which took place in Boston, in 1850. A 
“ reverend ” lecturer on the so-called “ new science,” for 
a few weeks, certainly, had a “ great run ” in “ the Ath¬ 
ens of America,” but his “ electro-biological ” “ coin ” 
suddenly lost its power, and it happened in this wise. 
One of the five hundred who had paid him ten dollars 
for the “ secret ” happened to look into a tract on Path- 
etism which fell in his way, and there he learned that 




HISTORICAL. 


27 


a “ chip, or a piece of charcoal, placed in the hand of a 
susceptible person,” answered all the “ electrical ” pur¬ 
poses of the “ magnetized coin.” He tried the experi¬ 
ment and found it successful; upon which he went 
immediately to the lecturer, and in one of his classes 
demanded the opportunity of exposing the fraud that 
had been practised upon him. This was refused. 
Whereupon he called a public meeting, which was held 
in the Tremont Temple, February 6,1850, and attended 
by editors, physicians, and a large number of intelligent 
citizens. Tyler Parsons, Esq., presided, and after a 
full and free discussion of the question laid before the 
meeting, the following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted: — 

“ Whereas, This meeting having assembled for the purpose of hearing 
exposed the claims of what has recently been called * Electrical Psy¬ 
chology,’ or ‘ Electro-Biology,’ and which has been set forth by Rev. 

-as a 4 newly-discovered science,’ which, it is said, has 

been brought to light within eighteen months past; and whereas, the 
disclosures made to this meeting by Mr. George P. Kettell, who has 

been fully instructed in the so-called ‘new science’ by said Mr.-, 

together with the documentary evidence laid before us, have fully sat¬ 
isfied us that what is called ‘Electrical Psychology,’ or ‘Electro- 
Biology,’ is not a new science; and hence the demand of ten dollars 
for teaching it, and the required pledge of secrecy, are unjust, and an 
imposition upon the public. 

“ Therefore resolved, As the sense of this meeting, that what is called 
* Electrical Psycholog)’,’ or ‘ Electro-Biology,’ is not new, either in the¬ 
ory or practice, the electrical theory of life having, years ago, been 
taught by Dr. Wilson Phillip, H. H. Sherwood, and others; and the use 
of metals, known under the name of Perkins’s Tractors, and the per¬ 
formance of Psychological experiments, without what is called the 
‘ Mesmeric process,’ on a number at once, while they were awake, hav¬ 
ing been done in this city more than six years ago, by Mr. LaRoy Sun¬ 
derland, as appears from the Boston Post of December 4, 1843. 

“ Resolved, That Mr. George P. Kettell, having been deceived by the 
assumptions in regard to the ‘ new science,’ in the opinion of this 
meeting is fully absolved, as all other persons in similar circumstances 
unquestionably are, from all obligations of ‘honor’ to keep the pledge 
of ‘ secrecy ’ imposed upon him in regard to the so-called 4 new science.’ 

“ Resolved, That the Rev.-, the teacher of the so-called 

‘ new science,’ having failed to be present at this meeting, when re¬ 
spectfully invited to appear and defend himself; and as he also refused 
Mr. Kettell the privilege of making his disclosures before one of Mr. 
-’s audiences, (as Mr. Kettell requested the opportunity of doing,) 







28 


PATIIETISM. 


it is to us, and should be to our fellow-citizens, sufficient evidence that 
Mr.-is himself conscious of his utter inability to main¬ 

tain his claims in regard to the newness of the so-called science of 
‘Electro-Biology,’ in which opinion this meeting fully concurs.” — Bos¬ 
ton Daily Mail , Feb. 7, 1850. 

I omit the names of the parties who were the most 
concerned in promulgating this so-called “ new science,” 
as different from Mesmerism as light is from darkness, 
as it is to be hoped that they have long since regretted 
the part they took in those transactions. For sure I am 
they have had sufficient cause for regret. The Rev. 
-, alluded to above, suddenly left New Eng¬ 
land, and offered his “ new science ” to the people in 
Mississippi, where he was soon after arrested on the 
complaint of one of his ten dollar pupils, on a charge 
of having obtained money under false pretences, as 
appears from the Hinds County Gazette of June 28,1850. 

The phenomena peculiar to processes known under 
the name of “Neurology” are also confirmatory of the 
theory of self-induction. Dr. J. R. Buchanan, the au¬ 
thor of “ Neurology,” technically so called, lectured in 
Boston in the winter of 1843-4. Anxious to counteract 
the influence of Pathetism, it was quite natural that he 
should feel the solicitude manifested in the following 
letter, in respect to the judgment which the public 
was likely to form in regard to the real merits of our 
respective theories. They could not both be true. 
The results produced by both might be real, but they 
could not be all of them satisfactorily accounted for by 
the doctor’s notion of a “fluid.” I was then giving my 
second course of lectures in the Masonic Temple, Tre- 
mont Street, and had announced the closing lecture for 
that night, when Mr. L. N. Fowler, the phrenologist, 
called, and, handing me the following letter, said its 
author wished it read to my audience: — 






HISTORICAL. 


29 


To the Gentlemen avho have attended Mr. Sunderland’s 
Course of Experiments and Lectures. 

Gents : The course of experiments and lectures which has just 
concluded under the title of Lectures on Pathetism, has presented 
before the public many astounding facts in the science of man, which 
demand the investigation of the learned, and if they are genuine, will 
help to constitute a new era in human science. 

Firmly believing myself that these are indisputable facts, and that 
the experiments which you have witnessed do establish a new science, 
I hope that every one who has witnessed them has been convinced of 
their reality, that they will have a happy effect upon the public mind, 
and that a multitude of witnesses will bring conviction to the most 
sceptical. 

I do not say this because of any partiality to the lecturer, with whom 
I have no personal acquaintance, but because it is due to the cause of 
truth, and because my views have often been misrepresented. 

I have never, to my knowledge, either seen or heard Mr. Sunderland, 
but I have been sufficiently informed as to the character of his pro¬ 
ceedings in public, and can safely say that they are true and valuable 
experiments, interesting to all lovers of science. 

It is true that I differ from Mr. Sunderland in some respects — I do 
not perceive the necessity for a new term, such as Pathetism, for facts 
which were previously known under other names, as Mesmerism, Neu¬ 
rology, &c. 

Neither do I think it makes any difference whether we suppose that 
we operate by a fluid or a solid, by mind or by matter, by an influence, 
an attraction, or a sympathy, or by nothing at all. This is one of the 
small points, which are hardly worthy of discussion at present. 

Nor do I think experiments worth much in themselves, unless they 
prove something — unless they reveal the principles of physiology. My 
experiments do prove something; they establish a new system of phre¬ 
nology and physiology, and as far as I have heard of the experiments 
called Pathetism, they are nearly the same experiments which I have 
been making publicly and privately for two or three years, although 
now brought out under a new name. 

When any cerebral effect is produced, according to the notions of 
Pathetism, the very same organs are touched which I have long since 
discovered, and which are published in my Diagram of Neurology. I 
hope, therefore, that the experiments made by contact have been satis¬ 
factory, for they are the same as my own. 

The assertion that the organs do not give the same result in different 
subjects, when the experiments are properly made, according to my 
directions, is utterly untrue. 

Whilst the principles and experiments of Neurology have been pre¬ 
sented under a new name, and an attempt made to create a mistaken 
impression concerning that science, I have thought it my duty to 
offer these remarks, and to say that I have always held myself ready 
to prove whatever I assert, either before learned societies or before the 
public. 

It is my intention to give a course of public lectures as soon as my 
present engagements with, my private class at Ritchie Hall will permit, 
in which I will give novel and conclusive demonstrations of Neurology, 
in a manner never before attempted. Very respectfully, 

JOS. R. BUCHANAN. 


3 * 


February, 1844. 


30 


PATHETISM. 


This letter was not read to my audience. And 
perhaps it is scarcely necessary to say, that Dr. Bu¬ 
chanan was entirely mistaken in supposing that I “ per¬ 
formed nearly the same experiments ” that he did. This 
matter was discussed by disinterested parties at the 
time, as may be seen from the public papers of that 
date. 

To the Editor of the Boston Post. — Pathetism. — A wri¬ 
ter over the assumed name of “ Plain Dealing,” in your paper 
of Monday last, calls on me for more light on the facts I gave 
you a few days before, in relation to the lectures of LaRoy Sun¬ 
derland, on the subject of Pathetism. Since this gentleman 
began to write on this subject, and especially since the com¬ 
mencement of his lectures in this city, I have felt an interest in 
it which I never felt before, and have examined it critically, with 
such helps as were at hand. Probably it was not so much my 
pathetism, or sympathy with the subject, as with the gifted and 
highly respected lecturer, which inspired me with this new zeal; 
although any subject, standing as prominently before the public 
as this, and believed and advocated by many intelligent and re¬ 
spectable people, I think should be examined candidly by every 
good citizen, and not denounced, without examination, as a hoax, 
or a humbug. Even now, however, it is my intention to confine 
myself to facts, without resorting to arguments in favor of the 
system. As “ Plain Dealing ” appears to be in the dark as to the 
matters referred to by him, and as his erroneous statements are 
evidently calculated to mislead those not familiar with the facts 
in the case, I have taken some pains to inform myself, and will 
now, with your permission, proceed to state the results. 

1. Mr. Sunderland does not claim originality in the discovery 
of the susceptibility of the cerebral organs to excitement by 
external applications. This discovery was made by Professor 
Muller, some years ago. He excited all the senses by galvanism, 
as may be seen by his work on Human Physiology, and also by 
Walker’s Pathology, page 131. That influence, now denominated 
Mesmerism, was applied to the contact of the cerebral organs, 
by Dr. Cleaveland, of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1837, as 
appears by Mr. Sunderland’s work on Pathetism, page 141. This 
was long before the terms Neurology or Pathetism had ever been 
seen or heard of, in the peculiar sense in which they are now used. 

2. Mr. Sunderland has made no claim to the discovery of any 
new agency , like some who have applied tb° term Neurology to 


HISTORICAL. 


31 


what had long before been known as mesmeric phenomena. Mr. 
Sunderland has stated in his work, and repeatedly in his lectures, 
that he believed the agency known under the terms of Human 
Magnetism, Mesmerism, Neurology, or Pathetism, to be one and 
the same. 

3. The fact that certain persons have fallen into a state of 
somnium, spontaneously, is not claimed by Mr. Sunderland as 
any new discovery, nor that some will fall asleep by having their 
attention fixed, as in the case of Mr. Braid’s experiments. Nor 
is it true that Mr. Braid applied the term “ Jiypnopathy ” to this 
state, as this term is peculiar to the theory of Mr. Sunderland, 
and was first introduced by him. The term used by Mr. Braid 
is “ liypneurology ,” as may be seen by an article from his pen, in 
the first number of the Phreno-Magnet. 

Mr. Sunderland’s claim to originality, as stated in his lectures 
and in his published work, is founded, first, on his theory; sec¬ 
ondly, on his peculiar manner of operating. His theory discards 
the idea of the magnetic fluid of Mesmer and his followers, and 
also the nervous fluid of Hr. Buchanan and his disciples; yet 
“Plain Dealing” cannot see in what respects Mr. Sunderland 
differs from others, who have advocated the fluid theory! Nay, 
he has not eyes to see “ one single new idea different from the 
prevalent views on the subject of Mesmerism; ” and this, too, 
when it is well known that Mr. S. is the first, if not the only 
writer, who has undertaken to demonstrate the absurdity of the 
assumptions in favor of a magnetic or nervous fluid, said to be 
transmitted from the operator into his patient. 

The representation of “ Plain Dealing,” that “ Mr. S. is, all the 
time, experimenting on the principles of Neurology, after the 
manner of Dr. Buchanan,” is an untruth , entire and unqualified , 
without the shadow of fact for its support. That Mr. S. touches 
the cerebral organs, sometimes, is true; and he has stated in his 
lectures that he did so in accordance with the well known locations 
of Gall, as his experiments agreed most with Gall’s system; and 
this corresponds with facts stated in the Magnet and in his work 
on Pathetism. Of course, he could not be supposed to be oper¬ 
ating in accordance with Buchanan’s system, which does not agree 
with that of Dr. Gall; and the insinuation that he does so, in 
face of the above facts, evinces an unpardonable ignorance in the 
writer, or a prejudice which ought to be “ suppressed.” I noticed 
also, at other times, that, when Mr. S. touched the heads or bod¬ 
ies of his patients, it appeared to be, as he said, for the purpose 
of showing that different results might be induced from the same 
locations ; a fact which completely refutes one of the fundamentals 
of Neurology. 


32 


PATHETISM. 


The following are some of the results of Mr. Sunderland’s 
peculiar manner of operation, during his lectures at the Taberna¬ 
cle, and the Masonic Temple, in this city. Similar results may 
have been induced by others; but never, it is believed, in the 
same way. I have never heard of a similar operation from any 
other lecturer: — 

1. Induced somnambulism, in strangers and without contact — 
and in persons who had never been previously operated upon, and 
brought into that state without contact. When Dr. Buchanan, or 
Mr. Braid, or any other mesmerizer has operated heretofore, it has 
been their practice to select one person, and confine their w'hole 
attention and operation to that individual, for the purpose of 
inducing the results. In this respect Mr. S. is original, and dif¬ 
fers entirely from all other lecturers who have preceded him. 

2. Induced somnambulism, brought on without contact , in the 
case of persons who had never been operated upon, and in a pub¬ 
lic, promiscuous assembly, while the operator was actually pro¬ 
ceeding with his lecture, and in fifteen or twenty cases at once, 
and without the patients looking at any thing for the purpose. 
Did Buchanan, or Mesmer, or any other lecturer, ever induce 
results in this way ? Never. 

3. A state of real trance, induced without contact, in persons 
who had never been manipulated at all. 

4. Catalepsy, brought on in the same manner. 

5. Cerebral excitement, produced without contact, in persons 
who had never been manipulated. 

6. Cerebral excitements, self-induced by the patient’s touch¬ 
ing his own organs. 

7. Cerebral, sympathetic excitements, induced in three or in 
twenty persons at once, simply by one of them touching his own 
head. 

8. Second sight, induced in persons wide awake, without con¬ 
tact, and who had never been previously operated upon by any 
mesmerizer. 

9. Relief of pain and cure of disease, without contact, in a 
public audience, in strangers too, never before operated upon or 
mesmerized. 

Now, if Dr. Buchanan can point to results like the above, 
induced in the same manner, let him do it — if he cannot, your 
readers, Mr. Editor, will see with what justice “ Plain Dealing ” is 
laboring to prove that “ Mr. Sunderland is experimenting after the 
manner of Dr. B.” The truth is, Mr. Buchanan’s originality 
consists in the manner of his applying an agency, known long 
before; for he was not the first who applied it to the human 
brain. Mr. Sunderland claims originality respecting some things, 


HISTORICAL. 


33 


which he thinks he has demonstrated with regard to the nature 
of that same agency; and also in respect to the manner of using 
it for the production of the mental phenomena above stated. 
Why not practise fair play, and admit both. These invidious 
comparisons and false insinuations are unworthy of the subject, 
and can do no one any good. Even “ Fair Dealing ” says, “ I do 
not at all impeach the genuineness or fairness of his experiments.” 
This is admitting about every thing. I will not, therefore, further 
notice the fault-finding of “ Plain Dealing,” nor his insinuations 
against a man, whose character is so well known to the citizens of 
Boston and the country throughout, as that of LaRoy Sunder¬ 
land. With the admission of the “ genuineness and fairness of 
his experiments,” the doctrine of a fluid falls to the gaound. — 
Daniel Heushaw, Boston Post, Dec. 4, 1843. 

When public attention was first called to the theory 
of Pathetism, the large majority of all classes who ad¬ 
mitted the facts of Mesmerism, were strongly committed 
in favor of Mesmer’s notion in respect to the “will” 
force, the transmission of a physical “ fluid,” and the 
necessity of the “ passes ” to be made by the operator 
upon the person of the patient. And, as Pathetism 
denied the philosophy of these notions, it created a 
good deal of unkind feeling. Mesmerists often at¬ 
tended my lectures, who undertook to prevent my suc¬ 
cess by laughing, groaning, coughing, whistling, stamp¬ 
ing, and other boisterous measures. In November, 1843, 
I lectured in the Tabernacle, (now Athenaeum, Howard 
Street,) Boston, and, during my first lecture there, these 
disturbances were carried to great excess. Nor have peo¬ 
ple of the present day, perhaps, any just conception of 
the weight of opposition which Pathetism had to encoun¬ 
ter in those days, not from sceptics in clairvoyance, but 
from those who had adopted Mesmer’s notion in respect 
to the “passes,” and the so-called “nervous fluid.” 
And yet, in despite of all these disturbing causes, my 
experiments were always more or less successful; and 


34 


PATHETISM. 


in that same old Tabernacle some highly interesting 
results were developed, notwithstanding the opposition. 
For it was not confined to the so-called believers in 
Mesmerism. Many of the clerical profession, and others 
opposed to all that seemed to belong to the thing meant 
by this term, used the press and the pulpit for warning 
the people against the new idea of Pathetism. A small 
tract, by Rev. Henry Jones, was published, (New York, 
1843,) in which he gives some account of my experi¬ 
ment on a blind lady. Mr. Jones pronounced the whole 
thing decidedly diabolical, and warned people to have 
nothing to do with the dangerous subject. 

Another “Rev.,” and the one who opposed me the 
longest, was T. F. Norris, editor of the Boston Olive 
Branch, newspaper. This man had once been a member 
of the same church with myself, and violating some dis¬ 
ciplinary rule, I had called him to an account for his of¬ 
fence before the church tribunal “ in such cases made and 
provided ” This was in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1825. 
And for nearly thirty years afterwards, this specimen 
of the religious priesthood never ceased to manifest 
towards me a feeling of vindictiveness exceedingly 
harsh and bitter. During the whole course of my lec¬ 
turing in Boston, up to 1852, he never ceased to malign 
the subject of my labors, in language very severe, such 
as only a cruel man could use. Here are a few words 
spoken on the subject by the Rev. Sylvanus Cobb: — 


“The Maniacs against the Lunatics. —We ask a moment’s 
attention to that luckless object of Brother Norris’s hottest ire, LaRoy 
Sunderland. We are no companion or advocate of Mr. Sunderland. 
We have merely a passing acquaintance with him, and would barely 
treat him with that respect which is due one of whom we know no evil, 
but much that is commendable, as a gentleman and a scholar. He was 
formerly, with Mr. Norris, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. They are both, now, at work in other spheres. But Mr. Nor¬ 
ris, with all his talents and aids, in his ministerial and editorial labors, 


HISTORICAL. 


35 


has not been able, we think, to effect so much in curtailment of the 
power of the abandoned church, as Mr. Sunderland. The latter has 
utterly destroyed from among them the power they had for ages wielded 
for making converts, by the instrumentality of trances. He has ex¬ 
posed the modus operatidi, and explained those trances on scientific 
principles. 

“ And why should the Olive Branch be forever dogging Mr. Sunderland 
with the epithets knave, apostate, deceiver, trickster, destroyer of soul 
and body, and the like ? His private character we know nothing of, but 
his public lectures are purely moral and scientific. True, the science 
on which he lectures is the science of man ; but it is no less important 
than Brother Norris’s science of railroad corporations . There is no 
deceit in his performances. What he does he does openly, to illustrate 
the power of mind on mind, and of mind over matter; and he explains 
the principles on which this power is made to operate. His lectures 
are calculated to enlighten the whole community on important subjects, 
and, instead of deceiving or harming them, to qualify them to guard 
against deception and harm. True, Mr. Sunderland, as other scientific 
lecturers, receives a small admission fee in money from his hearers; 
but many people think they get as near their money’s worth as do 
those who pay for the Olive Branch. So much for Sunderland; and we 
will leave him there until we can get something against him from 
Brother Norris more than froth and fury.” — Christian Freeman , Au¬ 
gust 27, 1852. 

The son succeeded his father as the editor of the 
Olive Branch, and, as the sequel proved, he inherited 
from him also his undying hate. As he did not know 
me, I called on him, in 1853, for the purpose of having 
my business card (Oculist and Self-Healing by Nutri¬ 
tion) inserted in his paper. At first he assented, but 
when he learned my name, he peremptorily refused, and 
made the following significant remark as the reason : — 

“My father did not like you ! Therefore I will not publish your card, 
sir, for my father was very much opposed to you.” 

During my first lectures in Boston, this same Rev. 
T. F. N. sent his associate, a Mr. Cochran, to “take 
notes,” for the purpose of finding something on which 
to base his opposition to me. And it so happened 
one night that this reporter found himself so much 
“under the influence” of Pathetism, that he “had to 
slope,” as he afterwards confessed. He had sat at his 
table only a few minutes, when he began to “feel the 


36 


PATHETISM. 


power stealing over him,” until his right arm became 
“ too stiff to move his pen,” and in the Olive Branch of 
November 18, 1843, he gives a long account of his 
“miraculous escape.” Here is an extract from that 
report: — 

“ Suneerland’s Lectures on Pathetism.— LaRoy Sunderland, 
the famous ex-Episcopal Methodist preacher, ex-abolitionist lecturer, 
and ex-editor, now prince of the sons of Mesmer, commenced a series of 
lectures in the Miller Tabernacle on Monday evening last. The aston¬ 
ishing developments of the lecturer’s arts in other places induced us to 
attend to witness for ourself performances so mingled with the mar¬ 
vellous, and to gather facts, if any should be presented which would 
interest our readers. . . . Sunderland repudiates the theory of his 

predecessors, scouts at electricity as being the agent of somnambu¬ 
lism, and the idea of an invisible fluid passing from one to another; 
and he laughs to scorn those pretenders who can only work by friction. 
He commenced by some general remarks on the laws which govern 
mind, and spoke of the importance of his subject, as necessary to be 
understood by all classes of the people, especially the clergy, as it illus¬ 
trated the influence of sympathy on the susceptibilities common to all 
human beings. It was of vital importance to parents and teachers of 
children, that they may be able to make good impressions on the minds 
of those under their control. The lecturer continued, . . . and 

whether from sympathy with a poor sleeper who sat near to us, or some 
other cause inexplicable to us, we began to feel a strong sensation run¬ 
ning down our right arm, which made it rather difficult to hold a pen¬ 
cil ; we changed our position, but the influence, real or fanciful, kept 
hold of us, and we thought, on the whole, it would be as prudent to 
escape from the magic circle. We were inclined to this from the fact 
that a sleep)]/ report is bad enough; how ludicrous, then, must be the 
exhibition of a sleeping reporter ! What! we asleep at our post, and 
made to play antics for the amusement of the Philistines among us ? 
No, not we; the idea was intolerable, so we sloped off to a safe 
distance. . . . 

“ We hope good will result from the knowledge of this secret power, 
b t as we doubt the goodness of its origin, we tremble for its influence. 
Pathetism, as we understand it, is nothing more nor less than the 
revival of that art which constituted the employment of magicians and 
sorcerers of olden times.” 

This report alludes to the case of a clergyman, (T. 
G. Brown,) who sat near to Mr. Cochran, and becoming 
entranced, left his seat, and went upon the platform near 
to the lecturer, where he bore his testimony to the 
“influence” exerted over him; and he declared also, 
that, so far as he could judge, it was identical with that 
which he had felt when engaged in prayer and other 


HISTORICAL. 


37 


religious exercises, at Baptist and Methodist meet¬ 
ings. 

To the late Professor George Bush, of New York, I 
was indebted for the use of the term Pathetism. He 
was at the time (1842) very much interested in a series 
of my experiments which he witnessed, some of which 
I performed upon Professor Bush himself. He was 
quite susceptible, and easily impressed by certain meth¬ 
ods I adopted for operating upon him. And during 
these experiments I requested him to look up a term 
appropriate to the Theory I had suggested. 

He promised to do so, and in a few days suggested 
“ Pathetism,” as, on the whole, the best word that could 
be used to signify the thing meant. As this term is 
evidently appropriate, it seems to have come into gen¬ 
eral use wherever this subject is understood. “Mes¬ 
merism ” I have always considered inappropriate when 
speaking of an influence which is common to the human 
race. And so, also, of magnetism, when applied to the 
mind. Magnetism is a physical force, and the use of 
this word is appropriate only when speaking of physical 
motion , and results that are purely muscular. And 
hence it is I use the term magnetism when speaking of 
those motions, manipulations, and movements which 
appertain principally to the physical system for Hy¬ 
gienic and Remedial purposes. 

And, stronger objections still lie against the use of 
such terms as “ electro,” and “ electrical,” when speaking 
of matters merely psychological. Dr. William Gregory, 
in his letters on Animal Magnetism, says, — 

** Electro -biology and electro- psychology, both, are used on the as¬ 
sumption, now generally regarded a fallacious, that that which we call 
life, and thought, mind, soul, are essentially electrical, or depend upon 
electricity as one of their conditions.” 

4 


38 


PATHETISM. 


And as to “biologized,” Dr. Gregory remarks, “ It is a most bar¬ 
barous expression, which I only use in order to protest against it.” — 
lb. p. 160. 

“ The term ‘ Mental Alchemy ’ is, if possible, still lower and more 
objectionable than either of its predecessors. Strictly speaking, there 
never was any kind of ‘ Alchemy * but ‘ Mental,’ and ‘ Alchemy ’ is but 
another word for mere ‘pretension, for that which is deceptive and chi¬ 
merical : 

“ Alchemy . The pretended art of the transmutation of metals.” — 
Webster. 

“ The science, if it deserves to be distinguished by the name of Al¬ 
chemy, has doubtless been an imposition, which, striking on the feeblest 
part of the human mind, has so frequently been successful in carrying 
on its delusions .”— Expose of Ancient and Modern Superstition, p. 73. 

How much importance will yet be attached to the 
Theory which I have spent some forty years of my life 
in maturing, I cannot now determine. That it is of some 
importance, and believed to be more or less true, it is 
not unreasonable for me to infer, after so many attempts 
have been made to counterfeit what I have done, and 
thus to present a part of my views under the auspices 
of new terms. The value of the article increases the 
temptation to counterfeit. 

Nor do I marvel that it has happened to me, in re¬ 
spect to my mental labors, as it has often happened 
before to many a poor man. The discoverer puts the 
knowledge and power into the hands of others, by which 
they make their fortunes, and hoard up earthly treas¬ 
ures; while the real laborer, the producer of the new 
theory , pines in poverty, and spends his declining years 
in reflecting on the beauties of mental philosophy! 
True, he may be ever so sensible of injury in the loss 
of what is taken from him, or unjustly withheld; but 
then he may be consoled in the consciousness of his 
having made an important discovery, (which will be of 
benefit to others, if not to himself,) and thus he may 
rest satisfied, if his new philosophy enables him merely 
to measure the amount of selfishness which pleads 


HISTORICAL. 


39 


“ ignorance ” of his discoveries, while it whispers “ All 
right,” in the very act of filching from him the just 
rewards of his labors. However, such, we shall find, 
have been the difficulties with which the higher forms 
of science have always had to contend; such have 
always been the unfounded pretensions, the pedantic 
empiricism, and the rank deception, characteristic of 
“ Alcheiny” ancient and modern, under whatever guise 
it may have appeared. 

But I shall be told, perhaps, that some of this blame 
falls on the author of Pathetism, for having, years ago, 
made known his new processes for controlling the ner¬ 
vous system. I admit it; though I must confess I did 
not once anticipate what uses cupidity might, indeed, 
make of the* information which I published freely to the 
world. Still, I cannot abate my confidence in the ulti¬ 
mate intelligence of the people, which is the only safe¬ 
guard (the best “Talisman”) against imposition in 
Theology, Philosophy, or Science. 

That this Theory may now be well considered a Sci¬ 
ence, I infer from the fact that its fundamental^ prin¬ 
ciples are defined. They are better settled than those 
of Phrenology. And, that they are now generally 
believed to be true, is manifest- from the radical change 
which it has every where wrought in the manner of 
inducing nervous results, not in this country merely, 
but also in Europe. Nor is it unreasonable to hope 
that, under whatever names (new or old) this idea is 
presented, yet it will be applied for “ doing good to the 
souls and bodies of men,” and its heat and light be 
practically diffused throughout the world. 


TERMINOLOGY. 


It is worthy of notice that, while various terms have 
come into use, from the earliest ages, to signify the 
means, or the processes, by which certain abnormal 
changes have been brought about in the nervous system, 
during the whole of this time there does not seem to 
have been any name invented to signify the philosophy 
of their induction. On arriving, therefore, at what 1 
supposed to be the rationale of all artificial impressions 
made upon the human mind, I found the want of a 
suitable word by which the whole subject could be des¬ 
ignated. Before explaining that term, however, let us 
briefly examine what preceding ages had done towards 
furnishing us with ideas, both as they affect certain 
results supposed to be induced, and also the means or 
processes by which they were brought about. 

Apparition. 

Although this word simply means something seen, 
perceived, observed, or seeming to be, (from appear,) 
yet it has by use been applied to what was supposed to 
he supernatural, or a mental hallucination. 

“ The heavenly bands, 

Down from a sky of lighted jasper, now, 

In Paradise, and on a hill made halt; 

A glorious apparition, had not doubt, 

And carnal fear, that day, dimmed Adam’s eye.” 

Milton, Par. Lost, b. IX. 

(40) 


TERMINOLOGY. 


41 


The human mind may be artificially operated upon 
by various processes, so as to induce perceptions that 
might be designated by this term. 

“ In the room of the frightful spectres , there now entered a second 
dance of apparitions, very agreeably matched together, and made up 
of very agreeable phantoms.” — Spectator, No. 3. 

Catalepsy. 

From a Greek word, which signifies seizing , to take, 
invade. A sudden seizure of the nervous system, in 
which the external senses are suspended. When it 
comes on spontaneously, the eyes remain open, and all 
the muscles are fixed in one position, while the mind 
becomes wholly unconscious. It may be brought on by 
artificial means, and is, perhaps, as good a term as any 
now in use to specify that state induced by Pathetism, 
for rendering persons insensible to pain while surgical 
operations are performed upon them. 

Clairvoyance. 

A French word, which literally signifies clearsighted¬ 
ness , a power attributed to persons (usually) in a state 
of trance, of seeing what is not cognizable by either of 
the external senses. While it must be admitted that, 
by many, much more has been claimed in behalf of this 
power than was ever sufficiently proved to be true, yet 
the power itself is nevertheless a reality. (Dr. Greg¬ 
ory’s Letters on Animal Magnetism, otherwise a most 
interesting and valuable work, contains numerous cases 
of this class.) If we admit the fact of Intuition , we 
admit all that is necessary in regard to Clairvoyance. 

Dreaming. 

The word dream is said to come from dormire , to 
4 * 


42 PATHETISM. 

sleep, because it has been used to signify the thoughts 
which occur during sleep. 

“ The vision said, and vanished from his sight; 

The dreamer wakened in a mournful fright, 

Then pulled his drowsy neighbor, and declared 
What in his slumber he had seen and heard." 

Dryden. 

During ordinary sleep, when the mental organs re¬ 
main, or become more or less excited, it constitutes 
dreaming, and the character of the dream is determined 
by the organs of the mind which participate in it. 
Very many of the descriptions given by persons in a 
state of Trance, amount to nothing more nor less than 
what is common to ordinary cases of dreaming. And, 
when the Trance is artificially induced, the patient may 
be made to dream in his normal sleep, by simply giving 
him directions to do so. 

Double Consciousness. 

This term has been used to signify the case of such 
persons, as spontaneously, or from external influences, 
live, as it were, in two distinct Individualities, so dis¬ 
tinct, that when in one state they have no recollection 
of the other. It is common in cases of Somnambulism 
and Trance, and is one of the most interesting and 
mysterious things involved in the whole subject. It is 
manifestly connected with the philosophy of Memory , 
and which must be better understood before we can 
attempt to account for it. Some new views of Memory 
will be found in the author’s larger work on Human 
Nature. 

Sometimes it has been called “Divided Conscious¬ 
ness.” If it is to be accounted for by supposing that 
the two brains of the patient (as they are double) are' 


TERMINOLOGY. 


43 


in two different states, one awake and the other asleep, 
at the same time, this will give an idea as to how Con¬ 
sciousness may be divided. But the truth is, we have 
cases of triple Consciousness, or even quadruple; that 
is, cases where certain persons pass from one state to 
others, and, when in one state, they have no memory 
of either. This fact will enable us to account for the 
way in which clairvoyants sometimes get knowledge of 
books and things. They may read a book in one state, 
and in another state, when they do not remember to 
have done so; they may give an account of what they 
have read, without being aware of the manner in which 
their information was obtained. 

Ecstasy. 

Removed from its normal place. Thus, when the 
soul is exalted in a state of Trance , or very much ex¬ 
cited with emotion, from whatever cause. It is some¬ 
times written extase , or extasis ; ex , from, and istasthai , 
to place ; when the mind is unsettled, and removed from 
its normal condition. 

“ And whether that which we call extasy be not dreaming with the 
eyes open, I leave to be examined.” — Locke on Hum. Und. b. II. c. 19 

“ This is the very coinage of your brain 
This bodiless creation extasy is very cunning in — 

Ham. Extasy ? 

My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time, 

And makes as healthful music.” — Shakspeare. 

Writers upon this subject have generally agreed in 
using this term to designate the most exalted state which 
the mind can reach, while in the body. It is certain, 
that most of what are called the “ higher phenomena,” 
such as clairvoyance, intervision, prevision, and intuition, 
occur in a state of extase. Having myself seen very 


44 


PATHETISM. 


many cases, of what were supposed to be the highest, I 
do not hesitate to say, that they present some of the 
most interesting phenomena that ever attracted the 
attention of human beings. To describe these states is 
impossible. They must be witnessed to be appreciated. 
It is common among the Roman Catholics, and various 
other sects of Christians, and is often brought on by 
religious excitement. (See “ Letter from the Earl of 
Shrewsbury, Descriptive of the estatica of Caldara and 
Addolorata of Cgpriana.” New York, Coperly and 
Sons, 1843. A Review of this pamphlet will be found 
in Pathetism, edition of 1843, p. 184.) 

Ghost. 

A word that may be said to signify any thing seen: a 
vision, a spirit, who has left the human body. It is 
nearly synonymous with apparition, though more gen¬ 
erally used to designate a spiritual form. 

“ The ghosts rejected are the unhappy crew, 

Deprived of sepulchres and funeral due ; 

The boatman, Charon; those, the buried host, 

He ferries over to the further coast.” 

Dryden, Virg. JEn. b. VI. 

Pathetism easily accounts for many appearances to 
which this term has been applied, as we know, that 
when the mind is abnormally excited, it may see ghosts, 
or any thing else, which comes within the range of the 
imagination. 

I suppose the following account (published at the 
time) gives a description of the first experiment of this 
kind which was performed in a promiscuous public 
assembly: — 

“Mr. Sunderland informed the audience that he 
would induce that state of Mental Hallucination called 


TERMINOLOGY. 


45 


‘second sight,’ on a person in the leaking condition. 
And sure enough, the lady, with her eyes wide open , 
arose, and stretched out her hands towards what she 
took to be her deceased father! And what was still 
more remarkable, if possible, at this instant, another 
lady, who sat near, and one who had never been mesmer¬ 
ized at 'all , gave a most piercing shriek, declaring that 
she also saw the spirit of her deceased sister; and it 
was some minutes before Mr. Sunderland succeeded in 
composing her mind .”—Providence Evening Chronicle , 
October 21, 1843. 


Hallucination. 

A state of mind in which one errs , blunders , and 
offends against the light of reason. 

“ Adorning richly, for the poet’s sake, 

Some poor hallucinating scribe’s mistake.” — Byron. 

And, is it a desirable condition of mind, for one per¬ 
son to be so impressed, or controlled by another, that 
he cannot tell the difference between truth and false¬ 
hood, between a walking cane and a snake ? 

Perhaps we have no word which more aptly expresses 
a certain class of “ experiments ” on persons in a “ wak¬ 
ing state,” of which so much was made by a class of 
lecturers a few years ago, and I am quite sure, that I 
have witnessed experiments where it was manifest 
enough that the “ lecturer,” “ Doctor,” or “ Professor,” 
as he styled himself, was as much hallucinated as any 
one upon whom his influence was exerted. 

“ I wodld once more repeat that Animal Magnetism is not a play¬ 
thing, not a toy, not the amusement for an idle hour, not the means of 
gratifying a morbid craving'for novelty or the marvellous. All such 
uses of it I abjure, and protest against as abuses. Neither is it a thing 
to be exhibited to gaping crowds for money; to crowds who stare and 
laugh, and go away thinking it very strange or very funny. It is a se- 


46 


PATHETISM. 


rious subject, well worthy of the most earnest and devout attention we 
can give it. It is painful to see it abused to raise a laugh, and so 
strongly do I feel this, that, for my own share, I object to all exhibition 
of it, public or private, and only admit an exception when the exhibitor 
is in earnest, and his object is to convince those who feel an equally 
sincere desire for the truth. All exhibitions, in which mere amusement 
is the object, tend to degrade science, and to retard its progress.” — 
Dr. W. Gregory , Letters on Animal Magnetism, p. 252. 

Such is the power of association, that, for a time, those 
operated upon artificially, become really hallucinated or 
insane. Instances have come under my notice, where 
persons had been demented and remained permanently 
insane by the process of “Mesmerism,” and especially 
by processes under the name of “Electrical Psychol¬ 
ogy,” “ Mental Alchemy,” &c. 

Hallucination, whether spontaneous or artificially 
induced, is a state of temporary insanity. 

“ I entirely disapprove of causing violent passions or emotions ; as I 
do also of all those in which strong and false impressions, especially 
of a disagreeable nature, are made on the mind. Such experiments 
are not justifiable.” — Dr. W. Gregory , Letters on Animal Magnet - 
ism, p. 106. 

Illusion. 

This term, more than the preceding, refers to the 
sense of sight; the other includes the state of the 
whole mind, not one of its faculties merely. 

Illusion, from illudere , to play or sport upon. To 
cheat, deceive, beguile. A state of mind, in which the 
patient is wholly or partially deceived by false appear¬ 
ances. 

“The wanton’s charms, however bright, 

Are like the false, illusive light, 

Whose flattering inauspicious blaze 
To precipices oft betrays.” — Thompson. 

Such are the impressions made upon the mind by 
artificial experiments that the sense of sight is either 
wholly suspended, or so perverted, that one visible ob¬ 
ject is taken for another. 


TERMINOLOGY. 


47 


Imagination. 

That power of the human mind by which it forms to 
itself such conceptions , fancies , images , or representa¬ 
tions, as are falsely taken for realities. Hence, we put 
it in the category of influences or agencies which op¬ 
erate upon the nervous system, and powerful indeed it 
must be, when we know that it has brought on every 
imaginable form of disease, of fanaticism, and insanity; 
and even death itself has been produced by it. 

“ Lo, what a great thing is affection ! 

Men may die of imagination, 

So deep may impressions be taken.” 

Id. Millere’s Tale. 

In using this term, we should always bear in mind 
that, while the fancy, or conception of the mind may be 
false , and, therefore, merely in the imagination , the 
change which that conception induces in the nervous 
system is not imaginary but real , and it is the business 
of philosophy to explain how this comes to pass. 

Miracle. 

. Into the theological sense in which this term is used, 
it is not the object of this work to enter. The proper 
signification of the word is, to wonder , something won¬ 
derful, unusual, and beyond the power of the spectators 
to comprehend. Such things have happened in all ages 
of the world. Nor do they necessarily imply a suspen¬ 
sion of any of the laws of nature. That which is done, 
under this name,,must come to pass according to some 
law, though we may not see or know what that law is. 

In some religious sects besides the Papists and Mor¬ 
mons, the belief prevails, at the present time, in mir- 


48 


PATHETISiT., 


acles wrought by supernatural power, or by power 
which interrupts the laws of nature. (See “ Discourse 
on Miracles wrought in the Roman Catholic Church,” 
1676; and “ The Book of Mormon .”) 

Phantasy. 

From a Greek word which signifies to shine, to ap¬ 
pear. That which merely appears to the mind, not 
external, but an idea of something, which is not real. 

“ All the interim is 

Like a phantom or a hideous dream. Shakspeare. 

It is a remarkable fact, that the descriptions which 
Emanuel Swedenborg gives of phantasies produced by 
spirits acting upon one another, are identical with the 
results produced by Pathetism, or so much like them, 
that one might be taken for the other. He says, — 

“There are spirits who induce such appearances by phantasies, that 
they seem as if they were^iot. For example: if any thing is seen in 
the shade, or by moonlight, or even in open day, if the object be in a 
dark place, those spirits keep the mind of the beholder, fixedly and 
unceasingly, in the thought of some particular thing, either of an ani¬ 
mal or a monster, or a forest, or some such thing; and so long as the 
mind is kept in this thought the phantasy is increased, and that to such 
a degree, that the person is persuaded, and sees just as if the things 
were really there, when, nevertheless, they are nothing but illusions. 
Such occurrences take place with those who indulge much in phanta¬ 
sies, and are in infirmity of mind, and hence are rendered credulous. 
Such are visionaries.” — A. C., 1966. 

Second Sight. 

A peculiar sense which some people seem to possess 
of seeing persons and things that are not present. It is 
said to have been quite common in certain parts of 
Scotland, in Ireland, and many other parts of the world. 
We may admit, that much that has passed under this 
name is to be traced to the excited cerebral system of 
the patient, while perhaps there may have been cases 


TERMINOLOGY. 


49 


where spontaneous clairvoyance has been developed, so 
as to give a sight of persons at a distance. It is a com¬ 
mon experiment in Pathetism, to so control the patient’s 
mind that he may have the most vivid conceptions of 
persons that are not present at the time. 

This term is also applied to prevision, or the sight or 
perception of events before they come to pass. (See 
Pathetism, 1843, p. 191, and edition of 1847, p. 109.) 

Somnambulism. 

This term properly signifies sleep-walking , and should 
not therefore be applied to any thing else. It has, how¬ 
ever, been improperly used to designate a state of 
Trance , where there was no muscular action at all. 

Somnipathy. 

Sympathetic sleep; a state of Trance, superinduced 
by sympathy, or by any given process adopted for this 
purpose. So Somnipathist signifies a person in that 
state. 

Spectre. 

The same as apparition; the semblance or appear¬ 
ance of one who is dead. 

“ The ghosts of traitors from the bridge descend, 

With bold, fantastic spectres to rejoice.” — Dryden. 

Sympathy. 

As this idea runs through the theory explained in 
this work, it will be well for the reader to bear it con¬ 
stantly in mind. It is applied to things as well as men; 
to causes and effects. 

1. In Natural Science it is used to signify the ten¬ 
dency of one thing to act upon another. Thus we say, 
5 


50 


PATHETISM. 


there is a sympathy between the iron and the load¬ 
stone. 

2. In Medicine or Pathology, it is said to be sym¬ 
pathy when there is a “ consent of parts,” or a corre¬ 
spondence of various organs in similar sensations or 
conditions. 

3. An agreement in the affections, which makes two 
persons agreed with each other. 

4. Fellow feeling for another in distress. 

Trance. 

Supposed to come from a Latin word, signifying a 
passing over, or beyond. A state in which the spirit 
seems to have passed beyond all influences, through the 
external senses. It is said of the apostle Peter, that 

“ He fell into a trance , and saw heaven opened.” — 
Acts 10 : 10. 

This is a much better term by which to signify a cer¬ 
tain state , than that of sleep, which has often been used 
in its stead. The term sleep cannot apply to any state 
in which the mind is perfectly conscious, and carries on 
conversation with others, as persons in the trance are 
known to do. 

Thus far in respect to results. Now let us examine 
the terms used to designate the means, or causes of 
their induction. 

Amulet. 

A name applied to stones, metals, plants, or any sub¬ 
stance worn upon the neck or on the body for guarding 
and preserving the wearer against disease, witchcraft, 
and evils of all kinds. ( A, from, and moles, a heap or 
mass.) To drive away, to repel. Anciently, in the 
days of ignorance, they were common, as indeed they 


TERMINOLOGY. 


51 


are now, among the Arabs, the American Indians, Afri¬ 
cans, &c. 

The phylacteries (Ex. 13 : 9, 16.) of the Jews were 
worn for a similar purpose, as they are to the present 
day. These were little boxes or rolls of parchment, 
whereon were written certain words from their sacred 
writings. 

The “earrings” and “gods” which the patriarch Ja¬ 
cob is said to have buried “under the oak by Sachem,” 
(Gen. 35: 4,) would seem to come under this head. 
Josephus, (Lib. 8. ch. 2, 5,) indeed, informs us that King 
Solomon employed the aid of a “ charm ” or “ spell ” 
for the purpose of assisting the virtues of a plant in the 
cure of epilepsy. 

All substances worn about the body for keeping 
off disease, may be denominated Amulets. By the 
Jews they were called Kamea , by the Greeks Phylac¬ 
teries, by the Romans Amuleta , or Ligatura , by the 
Papists Agnus Dei , and by the nations of Guinea, 
where they are still held in great veneration, they are 
called Fetishes. Their use may be traced back to the 
remotest and darkest periods of antiquity. And yet 
many people of this enlightened age do not seem to 
suspect how much they also are contributing to that 
superstition upon which the use of the Amulet has 
always depended. Many such people will rub a wart 
with a white bean, and then “throw the bean away 
over the right shoulder;” they will wear a red cord 
around the neck to prevent the nose from bleeding, or 
“ drink magnetized water,” swallow “ magnetized medi¬ 
cines,” wear “ magnetic bands,” and hold in their hands 
the “magnetized coin.” Such are some of the new 
forms under which the use of the “ Amulet ” now ob- 


52 


PATHETISM. 


tains among those who do not profess to have much 
faith in the old notions about the power of “ charms ” 
and “ spells.” 

Animal Magnetism. 

This term was brought into notice by Mesmer, and 
his pupil De Peysugur, in 1760; and its use, to the 
exclusion of all other terms, has been continued, gen¬ 
erally, not only in France, but also in Germany, and 
indeed throughout Europe. It was first introduced in 
this country in 1836, by Dr. Charles Poyen. What it 
means, may be seen from the following definition, taken 
from Dr. Poyen’s book, “ Report on Magnetical Ex¬ 
periments,” &c. Boston, 1886, p. 6. 

“ A state which is ordinarily produced in one individual by the will 
of another, performing certain manual evolutions for the purpose of 
causing it to take place.” — Med. Die. Sciences , vol. 21. 

It should be constantly borne in mind, that whatever 
may be the term used, whether “ Animal Magnetism,” 
or “ Fascination,” or “ Charm,” the thing signified is one 
and the same, whether it be used to designate the 
means or process used, or the susceptibilities of the ner¬ 
vous system upon which the influence is exerted. 

Phrenopathy. 

This term was first used in the author’s work on 
Pathetism, (edition of 1843, p. 128,) to signify those ex¬ 
periments performed on the mind by placing the fingers 
on the separate organs of the brain. From phrenis , 
mind, and pascho , to feel , experience , be acted upon. 
This was in 1842. But I soon afterwards satisfied my¬ 
self, beyond all doubt, that artificial excitement of the 
mind, induced by placing the fingers, or the poles of a 


TERMINOLOGY. 


53 


magnetic battery, on the external surfaces of the head 
or the body, could not be relied upon as I at first sup¬ 
posed. And hence it was, that I never continued those 
experiments, nor did I rely upon them as a source of 
information in respect to determining the functions of 
the human mind. 

And now, some eighteen years after I had ceased to 
use this term, for any very practical purposes, I see it 
has been adopted recently in advertisements in some 
of the Boston papers, in connection with that much 
perverted word, “ Electro,” and it is alleged the adver¬ 
tiser has made a “new discovery, to which the term, 
4 Electro-Phrenopathy ’ is applied! It is assumed that, 
by applying the magnetic forces to the brains, you can 
determine the correct diagnosis, and in this manner use 
electricity as a reliable means in all cases of disease.” 
But it may be sufficient to remark here, that no one 
will admit these assumptions who has any knowledge 
either of Pathetism or Electricity. (See Dunglison’s 
Physiology, vol. i. pp. 94 and 96; Pereira’s Materia 
Medica and Therapeutics, vol. i. p. 67, and authors 
therein quoted; Harrison on the Nervous System, 
p. 159; Sherwood’s Motive Power of Organic Life, 
Magnet, vol. i. 1843; Pathetism, with Practical Instruc¬ 
tions, &c., 1843; Boston Post, of December 4, 1843; 
Pathetism, an Essay, &c., 1847.) 

Hypnotism. 

This term was first used by Mr. Braid, of England, 
— a man whom Dr. Elliotson called at the time (1843) 
“a swaggering mechanic,”—to signify the “nervous 
sleep,” which he found to follow, wdien he caused certain 
persons to look, steadily, for a while, at an object placed 
5* 


54 


PATHETISM. 


before the eyes for this purpose. But as all sleep may 
certainly be said to be “ nervous,” it hardly seems cor¬ 
rect usage, to designate any one process for inducing it 
by this general term. And besides, we know very well, 
that the condition of the nervous system, brought about 
by this and similar processes, does not often resemble a 
state of deep at all. 

Neurology. 

Although this term had long been in use, signifying 
the science of the nerves, yet it was adopted by Dr. 
J. R. Buchanan, some eighteen years since, for designat¬ 
ing his peculiar method of inducing nervous phenom¬ 
ena, by simply placing his hand or finger on the patient’s 
head or body. But this theory does not seem to have 
made many converts, and an examination of the fol¬ 
lowing pages will perhaps satisfy the reader as to the 
reason why it cannot be relied upon as a science. 
Nervous changes, brought about in a peculiar class of 
people, by placing the hand on them, are interesting, as 
showing the susceptibility of the nervous system. But 
when we know that these changes vary to such an ex¬ 
tent, when induced by different operators, and on differ¬ 
ent subjects, it becomes a matter of regret that authors 
should evince so much readiness to build up theories 
upon such questionable facts. Hence it is not strange 
that Dr. Buchanan’s notions have never been received 
by any number of persons who are at all familiar with 
the laws which control the nervous system. 


Od. 

This term was first used by Reichenbach, to signify 
a substance exhaled from bodies, — from light, heat, and 


TERMINOLOGY. 


55 


electricity. He published a number of books on the 
subject, but unfortunately for science, the author of the 
od theory, like Mesmer, Perkins, Dr. Buchanan, and 
others, bases his notions on the stories told him by a 
peculiar class of “ nervous people,” whom he relied upon 
entirely for his deductions! Strange, that one making 
pretensions to philosophical accuracy should thus allow 
himself to be led into the vagaries of mental hallucina¬ 
tion, and then report the notions of a very singular and 
odd class of people as a sufficient foundation for the 
theory which he has attempted to construct upon them. 

Electricity. 

Valid objections have often been urged against the 
use of the term Electricity , when speaking of the Hu¬ 
man Mind or Spirit. The three kingdoms of the Uni¬ 
verse are discrete and so distinct, one rising above the 
other, that the terms which designate the laws of one 
below, cannot justly be applied to another above. The 
term “ electrical ” belongs to the Mineral kingdom, which 
is angular. Mental laws are far above the earth; and 
hence to apply this term to the higher faculties of man’s 
nature, is the same as if we were to say “ earthly psy¬ 
chology,” or “ mineral soul,” “ earthly life,” &c. 

The term “ electro ” has been thought to give a charm 
to exhibitions of a certain class of experiments, made 
when the operator, perhaps, had neither science, philos¬ 
ophy, or good sense to exhibit in what he said and did. 

A few years since these terms were used by a class 
of lecturers who pretended to have made the dis¬ 
covery of a “new science, as different from Mesmer¬ 
ism as darkness is from light.” The assumption was, 
that by “holding a piece of coin” in the hand, and 


56 


PATHETISM. 


“pressing the ulner nerve,” certain wonderful results 
were produced. 

The remark has often been made, that when mortals 
meet with phenomena that they cannot account for, 
they must, of course, attribute them to “ electricity,” for 
the very conclusive reason that they do not know what 
electricity is. And hence it is, that many of the claims 
in respect to electricity must be placed under the head 
of charlatanism. I have often noticed advertisements 
of these extravagant assumptions put forth from time to 
time in behalf of electricity or magnetism, like this one, 
which I quote from the Spiritual Age, newspaper: — 

“ The Harmonial Magnets, for the cure of disease of the throat, 
lungs, and visceral organs, upon new and scientific principles ; by 
-, M. D., Harmonial Physician of fifteen years’ practice.” 

Recently, a “ spiritual medium ” advertised himself in 
possession of a “ magnet,” which was, he tells us, “ re¬ 
vealed ” to him by Dr. B. Franklin, a “ cureall ” which 
would cost the patient the moderate sum of fifteen 
dollars. 

We cannot, perhaps, deny but that any man has a 
right to dub himself with any title he pleases, whether 
it be “Negro” or “Indian Doctor,” or “Harmonial 
Physician.” But what, pray, of “ harmonial magnets ? ” 
Suppose some charlatan were next to advertise his 
treatment of the sick by “harmonial gravitation,” or 
“ harmonial moonshine ? ” 

While we admit all that is really known of the elec¬ 
trical or magnetic forces throughout the universe, yet 
we cannot close our eyes to these wild and fanatical 
assumptions in behalf of numerous unfounded notions 
in respect to the curative powers of these forces — as¬ 
sumptions that harmonize truly with the ignorance of 


TERMINOLOGY. 


57 


those who put them forth, while they are discordant 
enough with science and philosophy. When we are told 
that electricity is always reliable in any and all forms 
of disease, we pronounce these assumptions false, no 
less than when the ignoramus thus pretends to give the 
diagnosis of disease with certainty. In the midst of 
these unfounded assumptions, let us look around and 
ascertain what those best informed on these matters 
have said upon the subject. Here, for instance, is the 
testimony of a learned Scotchman: — 

“ Although it may have been proved that electric currents do take 
place in the body during muscular action, yet there are many points 
which electricity cannot clear up; the analogies are partial only, and 
the presence of electrical currents does not prove these to be the causes 
of muscular action. They may be its effects.” — Letters on Animal 
Magnetism, p. 151. 

In this opinion, science and sound philosophy agree. 
And yet we know how common it has become for char¬ 
latans to pretend to give the true diagnosis by elec¬ 
tricity alone! The notion that all the nervous func¬ 
tions are carried on by electricity, is a great fallacy. 
We admit that electricity may be present in all living 
organisms, but we deny that it has ever been demon¬ 
strated that the magnetic or electrical forces constitute 
the nervous or the vital functions. This is assumed by 
superficial writers, who, among numerous other things 
they utter which are true, mix up much that is mere 
conjecture, and of which there is not a particle of proof 
recognized by the scientific world. 

Were our bodies magnetic or electrical, in the sense 
that is claimed by these charlatans, it is difficult to un¬ 
derstand how we could live in a thunder shower, or 
surrounded as we are so constantly with ten thousand 
mineral conductors of these mysterious forces. Those 


58 


PATHETISM. 


who work on iron and steel should be constantly shocked 
with electrical currents, and you would only need to 
have the invalid seize a lightning rod, and his disease 
would be drawn out of him, or more likely, perhaps, a 
thunderclap of lightning would dart into him, and thus 
his disease and his life would be consumed together. 

One of the most barefaced and preposterous of this 
class is, in pretending to render certain medicines elec¬ 
trical, or magnetic, when it is so well known that mag¬ 
netism is never permanent in fluids; indeed, no sub¬ 
stance retains magnetism so permanently as the hardest 
steel. To assume, therefore, that fluids, “ pills,” “ pow¬ 
ders,” “plasters,” &c., are rendered permanently elec¬ 
trical or magnetic, only shows the charlatan to be igno¬ 
rant or dishonest, or perhaps both. 

In the London Athenaeum (March 4, 1843) we find 
an article from Dr. Stark, from which the following 
conclusions are gathered, which go, as I think, very far 
towards proving what I have here stated. 

1. That the nerves are bad conductors of electricity. 
They are filled with an oily substance, and are not so 
good conductors as the muscles, or fluids. 

2. Galvanism, or electricity, like all other stimulants 
when applied continually, so far from producing the 
phenomena of life, produce death. If you take two 
muscles from an animal recently killed, with their re¬ 
spective nerves attached, and galvanize one of them 
with a feeble power, while you lay the other aside, you 
will find that the one galvanized loses its contractility 
long before the other, nor can it be restored again after 
being once destroyed ! And the same results may fol¬ 
low when galvanism is applied to the living tissue. 
W. Phillip divided the pneumogastric nerves of two 


TERMINOLOGY. 


59 


dogs; the animals were as near alike as possible. To 
one he applied galvanism, and it died in two hours and 
a quarter, while the other, which was not galvanized, 
lived four hours, and might perhaps have lived longer, 
but it was killed by a blow on the head. 

And from results such as these, we may see how 
egregiously those persons err, who recommend elec¬ 
tricity as a “ cureall ” for every disease; in many cases 
we know it may be highly useful, but in others it may 
prove decidedly injurious. 

3. The neurilema, or covering of the nerves, is not a 
non-conductor , as it should be, were the nerves them¬ 
selves the channels for the conveyance of the magnetic 
forces. Hence, as the muscles and other organs into 
which the nerves run, are good conductors, there is no 
way for confining the galvanic fluid in the nerves. 
Hence, the power of the nervous system is not, and 
cannot be, either magnetism, electricity, or galvanism; 
for each of these is purely physical, and confined to the 
mineral kingdom. Hence, the motions which evolve 
vital or mental phenomena, are as much above these 
lower laws, as life and reason are above the mineral 
kingdom. 

4. The nerves conduct as well after death, when 
neither electricity or any other stimulus will excite con¬ 
traction in the muscles to which they lead. Were the 
nervous energy magnetic, this agency should produce 
the same results on the muscles after death, when con¬ 
veyed through the nerves, that it does during life. 

5. The results produced by experiments with mag¬ 
netism, or electricity, upon the nervous system, prove 
just nothing at all; because we know that precisely the 
same results have been produced without galvanism, by 
mere mechanical or chemical stimuli. 


60 


PATHETISM. 


And it is for these, and numerous other reasons, that 
you will never hear scientific men recommending “ har- 
monial magnets ” in the treatment of disease. And yet 
I know very well that magnetism and electricity, in the 
hands of the skilful physician, may be used as valuable 
auxiliaries in the treatment of numerous forms of 
disease, and it is because these forces have been suc¬ 
cessfully used, that ignorant mountebanks have put 
forth such monstrous assumptions in respect to their 
worthless nostrums, which they induce the poor invalid 
to swallow from his faith in the all-pervading forces of 
magnetism and electricity. 

And similar objections lie against the use of such 
terms as “ Vital electricity .” There may be some ap¬ 
parent correspondences in the phenomena of life and 
those induced by the well-known electrical and mag¬ 
netic forces. But I have elsewhere attempted to show 
that vital or nervous phenomena are as far above 
electricity as mind is above matter; and hence, to 
apply these mineral terms to vitality, is not calculated 
to aid us in the processes of scientific investigation. 
Terms which have been appropriated in chemistry 
should not be wrested from their appropriate uses. The 
phenomena of life and mind must originate terms of 
their own, appropriate and significant of the higher 
laws which they are intended to designate. 

If, then, neither Science nor Philosophy authorize the 
application of this term to the nervous action, how much 
more inappropriate must be its use for designating the 
laws of the human mind. 

And the addition of “Animal,” making it “Animal 
Magnetism,” is more objectionable still; unless we wish 
to speak of man as a mere animal, or beast. 


TERMINOLOGY. 


61 


The term we want for designating the whole subject, 
including the Idiopathic, Suggestive and Volitional, or 
artificial nervous phenomena, is not one that belongs to 
any one person, as if the influence we speak of had 
originated with Mesmer, or was confined to one man; 
not a term which has been already appropriated to other 
departments of natural science, but one which, though^ 
not entirely original, yet is so much so as to be suffi¬ 
ciently specific, and at the same time partaking so much 
of the Human, that it always must be understood as 
carrying in its meaning that which appertains to the 
nervous systems of human beings; that which has re¬ 
spect to intelligence, to mental or spiritual manifesta¬ 
tions. 

Bewitch. 

To enchant, to charm ; to overpower by allurement. 
This term is not always used in an evil sense, though 
the term witchcraft is. 

“ Come, come away, frail, silly, fleshy wight, 

Nor let vain words bewitch thy manly heart.” 

Spenser, Fairy Queen , b. i. c. 9. 

“ As for the term witch or wizard, they signify no more than a wise 
man or wise woman. In the word wizard it is plain at the very first 
sight. The most plain deduction of the name witch is from wit, as the 
noun wit is from the verb weet, which is to know. But usage has now 
appropriated this word to such a kind of skill and knowledge, as is out 
of the common road, or extraordinary. Nor did this peculiarity imply 
any unlawfulness. But there has since been a further restriction, and 
in which alone nowadays the words witch and wizard are used; and 
that is for one that has knowledge or skill, by virtue of either an ex¬ 
press or implicit sociation, or confederacy with some evil spirit .” — Dr. 
More, 1678. 

However much of that which has passed under the 
name of witchcraft may be justly attributed to igno¬ 
rance, faith, fear, and superstition, it may readily be 
admitted that evil spirits, out of the body, have never 
been very common where there were not “evil” or 

6 


62 


PATIIETISM. 


ignorant spirits in the body to believe, fear, and act for 
them; and that as people become good and intelligent , 
the disturbances known under this name will necessarily 
disappear. 

It is certain that occurrences have taken place in 
various localities throughout this country, within the 
last ten years, (previous to I860,) which are abundantly 
sufficient to confirm some of the old notions as to the 
swjoerhuman agency, in many developments, to which 
the term witchcraft has been applied. I myself have 
witnessed thousands of them — results which could not 
be accounted for by any of the known laws which ap¬ 
pertain to this world. The only consistent explanation 
of these strange things which I have yet seen, is that 
which has been given in the writings of Swedenborg, 
especially in 'what he says about obsession. (See his 
Apoc. Ex., 1182 ; Spir. Diary, 1902; A. C., 5985, 5986.) 
Whether these things be precisely what they purport to 
be (spiritual), or not, the future must determine. 

Charm. 

Supposed to come from carmen, a verse or song, as it 
anciently signified a secret power, usually exerted by 
singing or shouting. It is also applied to certain sub¬ 
stances, believed to have this power. Referred to in 
the Bible, Jer. 8 : 17. 

“ Mine is the charm, whose mystic sway 
The spirits of past delight obey; 

Let but the tuneful talisman sound, 

And they come, like genii, hovering round.” — Moore. 

Dr. A. Clarke says (Com. on Ps. 58 : 4) the term cAo- 
ber, which we translate charmer, comes from a word 
that signifies, to join, to put together, i. e. certain unin- 


TERMINOLOGY. 


63 


telligible words which formed the charm or spell. And 
he adds,— 

“ It is a fact, that cannot be disputed with any show of reason, that, 
in ancient times, there were persons that charmed , lulled to inactivity, 
or professed to charm, serpents, so as to prevent them from biting.” 

'(See Eccles. 10: 11.) The prince of Roman poets 
states the fact, — 

“ In the meadows, the cold snake is burst by incantation .” — Virq. 
JEcl, 8, ver. 71. 

Tl*e same author (JEn. 7, ver. 750) gives us the fol¬ 
lowing account of the skill of TTrnbro , a priest of the 
Marubians: — 

“Umbro, the brave Marubian priest, was there, 

Sent by the Marsian monarch to the war. 

The smiling olive, with her verdant boughs, 

Shades his bright helmet and adorns his brows. 

His charms in peace the furious serpent keep, 

And lull the envenomed viper’s race to sleep ; 

His healing hand allayed the raging pain, 

And, at his touch, the poison fled again.” — Pitt. 

Allusions are often made to this power in the classics. 
It is not improbable but that Middleton referred to it, in 
the following passage, two hundred years ago: — 

“ I’ll imitate the pities of old surgeons 
To this lost limb, who, ere they show their art, 

Cast one asleep —then cut the diseased part.” 

Tragedy of “ Beware of Women,” published in 1657. 

Indeed, the “ charm ” is retained in various forms to 
the present day, in many parts of Christendom, and 
used for curing burns, fits , &c. I knew a Methodist 
clergyman (Rev. B. Hibbard) who acquired a high 
celebrity by his skill in its use. 


Enchantment. 

Enchantment, from in and cantare; to sing a magic 
song, and thus to enrapture, to overpower with delight, 


64 


PATHETISM. 


so as to stun the faculties of the mind, and deprive 
them of their power of action. 

“In such a night, 

Medea gathered the enchanted herbs, 

Which did renew old ^Eson.” — Shakspeare. 

Fascination. 

To charm, enchant, or bewitch by the eyes; to “ eye 
bite.” From fascia, a band, or banded; swathed. 

“The Triballians and Illyrians, who with their very eyesight can 
witch, yea, and kill those whom they look wistly upon any long time.” 
— Holland, Pliny, I. 155. 

Incantation. 

Magical songs; in and canto , to sing; because this 
power was exercised usually by repeating or singing 
verses. 

“The Gothic Runers, to gain and establish the credit and admiration 
of their rhymes, turned the use of them very much to incantations and 
charms .” — Sir W. Temple, of Poetry. 

Magic 

This term originated probably among the Persians, as 
magi was used to signify philosophers, or great men, 
priests, or those learned in the “ Black Art,” or the sci¬ 
ence of producing wonderful effects by the (pretended) 
power of departed spirits. It is applied to various 
things used as instruments, as the “ Magic wand,” the 
“ Magic square,” “ Magic art,” &c. 

Mesmerism. 

Generally used to signify precisely the same thing as 
Animal Magnetism, though not always. 

It is not much in use any where except in England; 
and, in this country only in a technical sense, to distin- 


TERMINOLOGY. 


65 


guish one process of operating from another. In all 
that was known under either of these terms, nothing 
was ever done without the “will” and “motions made 
witli the hands.” The processes of “Animal Magnet¬ 
ism,” or “ Mesmerism,” are as follows : 

Sit down in front of your patient. Take his hands 
in yours, or seize his thumbs so as to bring the balls of 
both your thumbs in contact with his. Fix your eyes 
upon his, and make a strong effort of your will for him 
to sink into a state of trance. After you have con¬ 
tinued this process for ten or fifteen minutes, raise your 
hands, and pass them gently down each side of his 
head, over his shoulders, down his arms, and carry them 
off at the ends of his fingers. Continue these “passes” 
for half an hour or more. 

To release or “wake up” the patient, reverse the 
passes up his arms, and over his head, extending your 
hands outwardly each time. Continue till the patient 
is completely restored, making an effort with your will 
at the same time. 


Philters. 

From phileo , to love. A potion supposed to have the 
power, when swallowed, of exciting love. To impreg¬ 
nate with a charm, to excite love. 

Relics. 

A term applied to the remains of dead bodies, old 
clothes, bones, &c., &c. Among the Roman Catholics, 
such things are preserved with great veneration, and 
often believed to have extraordinary power in curing 
diseases and working miracles. It is from the same 
laws of association , that the hair, garm^pts, furniture, 
6 * 


66 


PATHETISM. 


finger rings, and portraits of deceased persons are pre¬ 
served, with so much care. 

Spells. 

From the Saxon spel , a story, magic charm, or song; 
and hence comes the term gospel, from God, or good, 
and spel, a history or narrative. See Dr. A. Clarke’s 
Commentary on Matthew, p. 19, and Webster’s Dic¬ 
tionary, on this word. A good narrative. The term is 
used by Milton, — 

“Begin, begin, the mystic spell , prepare; ” 
and by Shakspeare, — 

“ Start not, her actions shall be holy, 

You hear my spell is lawful." 

Talisman. 

We are told that the Talisman originated among the 
Chaldeans, as, indeed, we may trace the use of this and 
similar terms to very remote periods of antiquity,— 
among the Chaldeans and the Persians. The word is 
from teleo, to terminate, and has a similar signification 
to Amulet, though the thing itself would seem to be a 
little more complicated. The talisman was, generally, a 
small image, cut out of stone, or any metallic substance. 

Louis Napoleon, of France, is said to have in his pos¬ 
session the talisman or charm which was constantly 
worn by Charlemagne, and which was found suspended 
from the neck of the Emperor in the opening of the 
sepulchre in 1166. It was presented to Napoleon by 
the clergy of Aix-la-Chapelle, and on his death passed 
to the present Napoleon. The talisman is one of fine 
gold, of round form, set with gems, and in the centre 
are two rough sapphires, a portion of the Holy Cross, 


TERMINOLOGY. 


67 


besides other relics brought from Palestine. The his¬ 
tory of this relic is, that it was presented to Charle¬ 
magne by Haroun al Raschid, in the year 797, with sev¬ 
eral relics of kindred value; the latter are shown at Aix- 
la-Chapelle to the present day; but the talisman was 
buried with Charlemagne, by whom it had been worn 
till his death in 814. 

I have now lying before me what I suppose to be a 
number of Egyptian talismans, far more interesting to 
the antiquarian, even, than that of Charlemagne. They 
are from one of the pyramids, and made of copper, 
about three inches long, and shaped very much like a 
sarcophagus. They were procured in Egypt, and pre¬ 
sented to me by Mr. John C. Hayden, of Stoneham, 
Massachusetts. 

On the ancient talisman were carved numerous mys¬ 
terious figures, which were said to be cut under a certain 
configuration of the planets, and which were believed 
to be powerfully efficacious, not only in averting dis¬ 
eases and various evils, but also in making known what 
appertained to the future. That talismans , or some¬ 
thing of the kind, were used among the Jews anciently, 
is manifest from their sacred writings. Thus, it is said, 
that Rachel “ stole the images (margin reads, teraphim) 
that were her father’s.” These “ images ” Laban calls 
his “gods” Hor is it improbable but that the “ Urim 
and Thummim” which the Jewish High Priest was 
directed to display upon his breast, was something of 
the talismanic kind. Exod. 28: 30. That the Urim 
and Thummim was consulted for similar purposes to 
that for which the Chaldean Talisman was used, is cer¬ 
tain. “ Demonologia,” London, 1831, p. 101. 

Such, then, are the terms which have from immemo- 


68 


PATHETISM. 


rial time come into use, when speaking of impressions 
made upon the mind , or upon the nervous system , by 
things (real or imaginary) applied to the external senses. 
The means, being diversified, were designated, as a mat¬ 
ter of course, by different terms; but the Philosophy 
by which the results were induced, the rationale of 
Nervous Induction , not being understood, no appro¬ 
priate term seems to have been suggested for des¬ 
ignating it. The ever-varying susceptibilities of the 
nervous system are such, that, operated upon now by 
one process, (charm,) and now by another, (Mesmer¬ 
ism,) it becomes an easy matter for uninformed persons 
to imagine that they have made a new discovery, when, 
in fact, they have merely made a change in the method 
of operating. 

Marvellousness. 

There is in Human Nature an inherent love of the 
marvellous. And cupidity may, and doubtless has, 
often tempted to the adoption of new names for old 
ideas, which have been put into new shapes for the pur¬ 
pose of exciting curiosity , which people will always be 
willing to pay more or less for having gratified. Hence 
it is, that whatever is mysterious, and beyond the 
power of comprehension, has more or less power over 
the functions of marvellousness, especially in those who 
are not well informed in respect to Nature’s laws. 

Magnetism. 

There is a sense in which this much abused term 
may, and I think should, be used, when speaking of 
manipulations, for hygienic purposes, upon the human 
body. All those motions included in gymnastics, calis- 


TERMINOLOGY. 


69 


thenics, and what is called the movement cure, are mag¬ 
netic, and I may add, electrical, in the true sense of 
those terms, when applied to vital phenomena. Motion 
evolves heat and life; and that heat which is generated 
in the human body by its own magnetism or its own 
motions is, certainly, more conducive to health than any 
external or artificial heat. All those exercises, there¬ 
fore, those motions of the hands, the feet, the muscles, 
and of the whole body, in working, walking, dancing, 
are magnetic. And, as these motions may be practised 
on one’s self, so we may thus become self-magnetized in 
a sensQ. which is strictly scientific and philosophical. 
The muscles may be exercised by the patient himself, 
or by a nurse, or they may be worked by both together. 
But when thus manipulated and exercised, this is the 
most appropriate term for designating these motions. 
It is physical exercise, and the results are magnetic; 
that is, there is an increase of physical motion, an in¬ 
crease of the Vital Forces, and for designating the pro¬ 
cesses by which these results are developed, I know of 
no term more appropriate than the one here suggested. 

Pathetism. 

From 77a<7^a>, pascho , to experience , he affected with 
any thing, good or bad; to suffer , to feel , to be exposed 
or affected in a particular manner towards another , or 
by any event. And from the same root, IJadog, pathos, 
passion, affection , that which is suffered; love, kindness, 
a disease, a mental perturbation, a passive state of the 
mind or the body; a condition, a disposition ; and from 
which we have Apathy, Idiopathy, Sympathy, Pathetic, 
Pathology, Homoeopathy, Hydropathy, and Pathetism. 

It is certainly desirable, when speaking of new ideas 


70 


PATHETISM. 


or things, to use terms the most expressive of their real 
nature and laws. In examining Nervous Phenomena, 
whether spontaneous or artificial, three questions pre¬ 
sent themselves for an answer: 

1. As to the Idiosyncrasy, the quality or suceptibility 
of the body or mind , which rendered it liable to the 
change. 

2. As to the Idiopathic Motion, which was the im¬ 
mediate cause of the nervous change that has been 
induced. And, 

3. As to the Extrinsic Motion, Law, Influence, As¬ 
sociation, or Suggestion, which was the remote cause 
of the developed Phenomena. 

These terms are sufficiently comprehensive to include 
all the Nervous or Mental Phenomena which come 
within the purview of our present undertaking. They 
will include all described in the preceding pages, if not 
all (if there be any others) that could be designated by 
any other terms. Thus : 

1. Spontaneous. Such as are Idiopathic, and come 
on from the Idiosyncrasy of the patient. Indeed, by 
whatever cause, internal or external, they may be de¬ 
veloped, they depend, first and last, upon the tempera¬ 
ment of the patient. 

2. Suggestive. This may include all that are super¬ 
induced through either of the external senses, Hearing, 
Sight, and Feeling; whether by physical substances 
applied to the patient’s body, or an idea addressed to 
his mind. 

3. Volitional. Effects cannot be induced by the 
mere will of one person, acting on another, till a rela¬ 
tion has been established between the two by Sugges¬ 
tion. Certain changes may be developed by one’s own 


TERMINOLOGY. 


71 


will, or by the will of another, after the spheres of the 
two have been sufficiently assimilated. But observe, 
that the Spontaneous Phenomena depend upon the 
Idiosyncrasy of the patient, and the Suggestive depend 
upon his Idiopathy, and the Volitional upon the Sug¬ 
gestive ; or we may say, that this is the order in which 
these classes of results follow one another. 

We say the one who receives an impression is pas¬ 
sive ; the agent or thing by which, or the person by 
whom it is given, is active, and whatever the result is, 
in all cases it may be said <to partake of the nature of 
sympathy, either mental or physical, inasmuch as a 
sympathetic result is one produced by association. 
One person is affected by his association with, or knowl¬ 
edge or belief of, another. Hence, I use a similar term, 
Pathetism, to signify the Philosophy of Influences, in, 
or upon, the Human Mind; not merely the susceptibili¬ 
ties of one who is influenced, but the sphere or qualities 
of the agent from whom the influence is received; so 
that whatever emotion, volition, or action is produced, 
this term signifies the rationale of its induction. Path¬ 
etism, therefore, is the term for signifying the rationale 
of abnormal, induced, or artificial nervous phenomena, 
by whatever means they may be produced, or whatever 
the state, (awake or asleep,) the patient may be in, 
when they are brought about. And as it seems to be 
more appropriate than any other, and has, to some con¬ 
siderable extent, been adopted by others, and is gen¬ 
erally understood, it may not be improper for me to 
continue its use, at least, till a better one shall have 
been suggested. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


Principles of Pathetism. 

I. Those states of the nervous system known as 
Reverie, Dreaming, Somnambulism, and Trance, are 
self-induced. They may be artificially or accidentally 
induced, the same as fits, weeping, laughing, joy, or 
sorrow. 

H. Nervous changes, and mental states, such as 
have been known under the name of “Mesmerism,” 
“Neurology,” “Revivals,” and “Spiritism,” come on 
from sympathetic imitation, and from the laws of habit. 
This law of habit gives Force to persons and objects, 
real and imaginary, and it constitutes the “ Influence ” 
by which all these nervous phenomena may be developed. 
In this manner, a thought, an idea in the mind is the 
proximate cause. The belief is either of something 
imaginary, in the mind, or of something objective, out¬ 
side. This Habit makes the diathesis to the Trance, 
and all its attendant phenomena; it gives Force to the 
Laws of Association by which the Trance comes on, 
and thus it is that it comes on when that state is asso¬ 
ciated with Religion, “ Spirits,” “ Magnetic passes,” or 
whatever else may have preceded the state, as the sug¬ 
gestive, or producing cause. 


(72) 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


73 


III. This law of habit, once sufficiently established 
in any given case, gives power to the mere volition of 
the operator. This happens only in extreme and very 
rare cases. This Relation , which gives Power to the 
human will of one person over the nervous system of 
another, can be formed only on certain conditions, which 
are under the control of the parties. Thus, — 

1. The habit is commenced by mutual consent of 
parties. And this demonstrates the great and mis¬ 
chievous error in the ancient notions of witchcraft, 
when it was' believed that persons could become be¬ 
witched without their knowledge, and against their 
wishes. Now, Pathetism shows how it is, that this very 
erroneous belief as to another’s will gives Force to an 
Idea which overcomes and controls the nervous system. 
It is in the nature and constitution of the human mind 
to yield, and act out what is really believed, hoped, or 
feared. 

2. This habit is formed through the use of all the 
external senses — Sight, Hearing, and Feeling. Hence 
the patient has all necessary opportunities for infor¬ 
mation, as to the operator’s will and designs. The 
acquaintance, so to speak, the mixture of the mental 
spheres, the power which the operator acquires over the 
patient, is obtained by words and motions addressed to 
the mind through one or each of the external senses. 
Thus it is that man gains an influence over his dog or 
his horse. The preacher, and all public speakers, do the 
same. The idea is talking, vnitten, and by motions and 
by sounds transmitted into the sensorium through the 
external senses, until this Relation is established, which 
gives Force to the Human will. 

3. This Relation, as to its extent, sphere, or power, 

7 


74 


PATHETISM. 


depends on time , and the motions or means used in its 
formation. It is not spontaneous, it does not come into 
existence without the knowledge and consent of the 
parties. Nor can it- be formed at all in certain cases. 
This depends on the temperament , idiosyncrasy , health , 
loves, and hopes, as to the use or object to be gained. 
A knowledge of these principles will subserve two im¬ 
portant cases. 

1. Ignorant people have imagined themselves be¬ 
witched and injured in their persons or property, by the 
malice of a witch or wizard, exercised over them by 
mere volition, without their knowledge or consent. 
But let it be borne in mind, that there is no such “ in¬ 
fluence ” or power, which can be exercised over any 
human being, contrary to his belief. The “ power ” is 
in your faith. What you do not believe, as to the 
power of witches, cannot influence you in any way at all. 

2. Multitudes of people, within a few years past, by 
hearing so much said on the subject of spiritism, have 
become “ possessed ” with the idea that “ Spirits ” have 
overpowered them, and got complete control of their 
minds. Many such have become quite insane, and some 
have committed suicide under the belief. But Path- 
etism shows how it is that the whole of this difficulty 
may be in the mind of the so-called medium. No 
“spirit,” out of the body or in the body, can exercise 
any more influence over you, than you give to this idea 
or belief in spirits. Dispossess your mind of the belief 
in imaginary (or, which is the same thing) invisible 
personages, and your trouble is at an end. 

Pathetism, therefore, is the only theory which ex¬ 
plains how it is that certain Ideas , Words, Motions , 
Associations , persons and things, real or fictitious, be- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


75 


come the remote, or suggestive cause of the trance, and 
thus they are said to “influence” and “control” the 
patient, whenever the idea of the trance or the “in¬ 
fluence ” is suggested in any way to the mind. In a 
vast majority of cases, I may say in nine hundred and 
ninety-nine out of every thousand, the patient is “im¬ 
pressed,” “ influenced,” and controlled, not according to 
any actual force brought to bear upon him, but accord¬ 
ing to his own Idea, his own Faith , Hope , or Fear , 
and to what may, will, or should be the change in his 
own case.* This explains how it is that one is made 
sick from drinking a tumbler of pure milk, in which he 
is afterwards made to believe a nauseous drug had been 
dissolved; and how it was the criminal died who was 
made to belive that the stream of water he heard run¬ 
ning while he was blindfolded was the blood from his 
slightly-punctured arm. 

Thus Pathetism explains the power of habit , and the 
laws of association. One strain calls up the memory 
of the long-forgotten tune. And any given state of the 
nervous system, associated with any process for inducing 
it, will be at once suggested by that process. It makes 
no difference wdiat the process is; when the Relation is 
once fully established, the process, (a look, a word, a 
sign, a particular time or place, a touch of the hand, a 
letter, a coin, a piece of paper or charcoal,) whatever it 
may be, (if not offensive,) will suggest the trance to the 
mind of the patient, and bring on the state with which 
it is associated. 

Pathetism further explains how it comes to pass that 
persons of a peculiar temperament are entranced by the 
laws of Sympathetic Imitation. We laugh, we weep, 
from sympathetic imitation; all panics , all revivals , all 


7G 


PATHETISM. 


political excitements, are carried on by these same laws. 
The sight of one person entranced, “impresses,” “in¬ 
fluences,” another; and thus “men go mad in crowds,” 
while one by one they awake from the extremes of 
delusion into which the excitement had carried them. 

And finally, Pathetism explains how it is that all and 
singular of the phenomena known under the processes 
of Animal Magnetism, and Nervous results, under the 
name of “ Spiritism,” may be self-induced. The law 
is this: 

Impress the mind of your patient with the certainty 
of the result, associated icith the process adopted for 
producing it. Command him to fix his eyes, his atten¬ 
tion, his whole mind upon it, and to expect it, until it 
comes. The thought, the conception, the Idea of the 
state in the mind of the patient, is the immediate cause 
which brings it on. 

And thus it is Pathetism accounts for the nervous 
results which are erroneously attributed to “ electricity,” 
to “ magnetism,” to a “ nervous fluid,” to “ od,” and also 
to the influence of “departed spirits.” The nervous 
phenomena now under notice may, indeed, for aught we 
know, be sometimes induced by one or either of the 
“influences” designated by the foregoing terms. But 
these phenomena should never be attributed to remote 
and extraordinary causes, when we know that causes 
exist in each nervous system adequate for their pro¬ 
duction, and the constant operation of which we are in 
the daily and hourly habit of observing. 

In all systems which come under the general head of 
Philosophy, Science, or Theology, it will be observed, 
there is some one leading idea, or peculiar characteristic 
which distinguishes one system from another. So in all 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


77 


treatises upon Mental Philosophy, each of which has 
had its receivers, and each based upon, or constituted 
by, some one leading principle which separates it from 
all others. 

In answer, then, to the question, as to what consti¬ 
tutes the Theory of Pathetism, and by which it becomes 
a distinct system of Mental Philosophy, the following 
statement is made: — 

1. The triune of all things, in Essence, Form, and 
Use. 

2. The Philosophy of Spheres, Natural, Human, and 
Divine. The qualities of things, the sources whence 
originate all Sympathies, Antipathies, Apathies, Attrac¬ 
tions, (love,) and repulsions, (hatred.) 

3. The doctrine of Relations, Correspondences, 
Associations, whence originates Power, physical and 
moral. 

Perhaps the leading Idea may be comprehended in 
Triune of things. The theory I suppose to be original 
only in a partial sense, as we know that Nature’s laws 
are as old as the Universe itself. But in no previous 
publications, it is believed, will they be found so dis¬ 
tinctly elaborated, and systematized, as in my “ Book of 
Human Nature,” and “Theory of Nutrition,” in which 
I have given my peculiar views of the Vis Medicatrix 
Naturae , and the Nutritive Fluid. These views will 
enable us to give a rational account of the cures alleged 
to have been performed by Pathetism, or, as is said, by 
“ Spiritual Influence.” That the sick have been healed 
without the use of physical means, seems now to be 
generally admitted. The true Theory of Nutrition will 
explain how these and all other cures must be per¬ 
formed. 


7 * 


78 


PATHETISM. 


Man has three senses, Hearing, Seeing , and Feeling, 
(Smell and Taste are included in Feeling;) so the same 
results may be induced, (awake or entranced,) by 
addressing one, or all of these senses. And then, after 
the Relation has been once established through the 
external senses, then, and not till then, results may be 
induced merely by volition. 

Let us now proceed to consider, with a little more 
minuteness, the rationale of their induction. 

Spheres. 

As the term Sphere has an important and compre¬ 
hensive signification in this philosophy, it may be neces¬ 
sary to give to it some attention here. 

1. It signifies not merely a perfect globe, or body, 
which is in every part equally distant from a point 
called its centre, but also the extent , or circuit of motion, 
peculiar to any given body. 

2. The extent, or circuit of knowledge, peculiar to 
individuals. 

3. Rank , or order of society, by which the relative 
position of one to another is determined. 

4. The extent , or circuit of that which proceeds from 
any body or substance, the whole of the influence ex¬ 
erted from or by any one. Each individual, every ani¬ 
mal, and every plant in the. vegetable kingdom, every 
mineral even has a sphere of its own. Swedenborg 
says,— 

“ A sphere diffuses itself, not only from angels and 
spirits, but also, from all and each of the things which 
appear in that world, as from the trees and from their 
fruits there, from shrubs, and from their flowers, from 
herbs, and from grapes, yea, from earth, and from every 


PHILOSOPHICAL,. 


79 


thing of them; this is universal, as well in things living 
as dead, that every thing is surrounded by something 
similar to that which is within it , and that this is con¬ 
tinually exhaled from it; a continual stream of effluvia 
flows forth from a man, also from every animal, and 
likewise from trees, fruits, shrubs, flowers, yea, from 
metals and stones.” — JD. JL. & JD. W. 291-293. 

Idiosyncrasies. 

The following testimony is from Dr. M. Good: — 

“We occasionally meet among mankind with a sort 
of sensation altogether wonderful and inexplicable. 
There are some persons so peculiarly affected by the 
presence of a particular object, that is neither seen, 
tasted, heard, smelled, or touched, as not only to be con¬ 
scious of its presence, but to be in agony till it is 
removed. The vicinity of a cat not unfrequently pro¬ 
duces such an effect, and I have been a witness to the 
most decisive proofs of this in several instances.” 

I knew a person who was so much affected with the 
smell of onions as to be unable to remain in the house 
where they were; and it is said Henry the Third, of 
France, could not endure the presence of a cat. Lord 
Chancellor Bacon fell down in a fit whenever there was 
an eclipse of the moon; the philosopher, Boyle, could 
not endure the sound of water drawn from a cock; 
Erasmus trembled at the smell or sight of fish; Marshal 
D’Albert fainted at the sight of a sucking pig; La 
Molie la Y oyer could not endure the sound of music; 
and Shakspeare speaks of some person in his day who 
could not endure the sound of the bagpipe. The cel¬ 
ebrated astronomer, Brahe, was totally paralyzed in his 
limbs at the sight of a live hare; and I have known 


80 


PATHETISM. 


intelligent persons who could not endure the sight of a 
rat. Some persons are peculiarly affected on touching 
certain kinds of metals, and others are affected in the 
same way if they touch them only with their thoughts. 
An intelligent lady of my acquaintance had such an 
antipathy to spiders, that for eight years she retained 
the sense of disgust and horror which it gave her on 
finding one upon her person. 

Now, it is quite certain, that these states of feeling 
do not depend upon the judgment, but they must have 
their origin in the peculiarity of the physical nature of 
each person. So it is in common life. There is a sphere 
surrounding every individual, and which you perceive 
at once when you approach him. On the first sight of 
one person you feel instinctively repelled, and you do 
not find it possible to feel pleased with being near to 
him, or to delight in his company. But with another 
person you are delighted at once. You feel an attach¬ 
ment to him, for which you can render no reason at all, 
no more than you could for the antipathy you felt for 
the other. All our feelings of love, friendship, and dis¬ 
like are founded on these peculiarities of our nature. 

Neurology. 

This term has been used to designate a theory 
founded on results developed from susceptible persons, 
by touching different parts of the system with the fin¬ 
gers. It has made but few converts, and will never, 
probably, be relied upon as the true theory of the ner¬ 
vous functions, for the following reasons: — 

1. Results developed by touching different parts of 
the body, are governed by the laws of habit, and by 
the laws of association , precisely as in Mesmerism, and 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


81 


the phenomena produced by Reichenbaclfs “ od .” Take 
any dozen good subjects, and operate on them thus: 
Cause them all to believe that you design to induce 
precisely the same state of feeling in each one, and then 
touch each one in different places, but so that no one 
may know what was done to the other. Results brought 
on in this manner annihilate the notion of “Neurology.” 

2. Touch any number of persons, who have no sus¬ 
picion of any design, and you will find no results follow 
confirmatory of the assumption in favor of “Neurology.” 

3. All nervous results, artificially induced, vary ac¬ 
cording to the notion of the operators. Thus of Mes- 
mer, Reichenbach, Perkins, Greatrakes, and others; 
also of Moses, Wesley, and the French prophets. And 
this constant and universal variation in the characteris¬ 
tics of nervous phenomena, artificially induced, is one 
of the confirmations of the Theory of Pathetism, which, 
if not yet ranked among the positive sciences, yet it 
bids fair for becoming so, inasmuch as Pathetism 
accounts for the phenomena as they occur, which can¬ 
not be said of any other theory, old or new. 


Od. 

A German author, by the name of Reichenbach, has 
recently issued a number of publications, two of which 
bear the following titles: — 

“ Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, 
Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemism, in their rela¬ 
tions to vital Force.” 

“ Somnambulism and Cramp.” 

The design is, to show that there is a substance elim¬ 
inated from all bodies, as also from light and heat, which 
induces the phenomena of the trance, somnambulism, 
and fits! The best idea I can give of these works is, 


82 


PATHETISM. 


they are like “ two grains of wheat in a bushel of chaff.” 
Reichenbach was a chemist, and well informed in nat¬ 
ural science, but on the subject of Psychology, and the 
ever-varying susceptibilities of the nervous system, he 
has been most egregiously deceived, far more, even, 
than ever Mesmer was, when he believed that he threw 
the “ magnetic fluid ” from his own body into the tubs 
and the trees which magnetized his patient. Had the 
German operator gone far enough to perceive to what 
an extent he has imposed upon his own credulity, he 
would have discovered also that he could easily make 
his “ sensitives ” see the “ odyle ” fluid oozing from an 
abstract idea! And a pity it is that he did not carry 
his investigations far enough to ascertain that his od 
actually “streams forth” from a mere thought in the 
mind of his patients! Had he made this “ important 
discovery,” I very much doubt whether these books 
on the “ odyle ” force [?] would ever have been pub¬ 
lished. True it is that all bodies, all substances, all 
persons, have their spheres. These spheres are actual 
emanations from each body, or they are constituted by 
the changes which each body makes in the surrounding 
atmosphere. This doctrine originated not with the 
German philosopher, but was first the most plainly 
announced by Swedenborg, nearly a century ago. This 
fact admitted, the mass of experiments detailed by 
Reichenbach only go to show how very little indeed 
he really knew of the “Force” of imagination and cre¬ 
dulity, which, it is so perfectly obvious, produced so 
large a proportion of what he calls his odyle phenom¬ 
ena. It seems never to have occurred to the enthu¬ 
siastic mind of Reichenbach, that in his later work on 
what he calls “Somnambulism and Cramp,” he contra- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


83 


diets his previous theory in respect to the nature of 
“ od. n In this last work, he every where speaks of the 
od as a Force in nature, as really a Force as Electricity 
or Magnetism; and this Force, he tells us, brings on 
the Trance, and the phenomena of “ Cramp,” and con¬ 
vulsions! Now, I affirm that there is not a particle of 
evidence, recognized by philosophy or science, to prove 
that wliat we call “od,” or the physical exhalations 
from physical bodies, is, in any legitimate sense of the 
term, a “Force;” Reichenbach himself says, (p.226,) 
that the “ od ” effects nothing but “ od.” These are his 
words: — 

“ All odic flame may be made to flicker by currents of air, be diverted, 
caused to move, blown about, and broken up, by blowing on it! Meet¬ 
ing with solid bodies, it bends around them, follows their surfaces, and 
streams forward on them like flames of common fire.” 

The negative characteristics of this “ od ” are thus 
defined by Reichenbach : — 

“ 1. It is a mere exhalation, a physical substance, that is given out of, 
or which surrounds, all other substances, and is in no sense intelligent, 
instinctive, or living, even ! —p. 221. 

2. It is very slow in its motions — so slow that you may ‘ almost fol¬ 
low it on a long wire, if you make haste.’ — p. 223. 

3. Od does not attract iron nor magnets, nor does it attract any other 
physical body. It is so weak, even, that it may be ‘ diverted ’ by a 
mere puff of air ! ’ —p. 226. 

4. Od can only be transferred from one body to another by physical 
contact; ‘ a mere approximation suffices for it, though with a weaker 
effect.’ — lb. 

5. Its transferrence is slow, and ‘requires several minutes for its 
completion.’ — lb. 

6. The duration of the induced odic condition in bodies after com¬ 
plete charging is generally very brief. — lb. 

7. Although this odyle substance possesses polarity, like magnetism, 
yet, unlike magnetism, * the odic flames issuing from opposite poles, 
exhibit no tendency to unite with one another.’ — lb. 

8. About all the positive action on other bodies produced by this 
od , is in the case of a few ‘nervous ’ or ‘sensitive* people ! But then, 
this influence is not reciprocal, like what takes place between two oppo¬ 
site poles of the magnetthe sensitive does not act upon the od at all.” 

And Reichenbach, without having designed any thing 
like a pun upon the word od\ or odd , which is the term 


84 


PATHETISM. 


lie applies to designate the spheres of different sub¬ 
stances, has, nevertheless, shown manifestly that he is 
dependent upon the testimony of an odd class of people 
for the truth of what he affirms. For instance, he gives 
the following account of them: — 

“ These are the persons who are generally regarded as capricious and 
whimsical; who cannot bear the color of yellow, while, more than 
others, they love the color of blue ; who hate to look at themselves in 
a glass; who will not sit on the middle of a bench with others, but 
insist on having the corner seat; who cannot sleep on the left side; 
who cannot eat with a spoon or fork of German silver, or of any com¬ 
position made to imitate silver; who cannot eat warm, much cooked, 
fat or sweet food, but have a passion for sour dishes; who dislike the 
heat of an iron stove, while they will bear an even greater heat from 
one of clay or porcelain ; who, in an omnibus or railroad car, insist on 
having the windows open, no matter what the weather may be, and no 
matter whether their fellow-travellers fear colds and rheumatism, or 
not; who cannot bear to have any one behind their chair, and do not 
like to shake hands; w r ho are subject to the influence of the moon, 
and shun its light as disagreeable,” &c. 

Now, as long as we know that from this class of 
'people you may bring out almost any kind of “ experi¬ 
ments ” you please, and confirmatory of any theory, we 
cannot allow the weight to Reiclienbacli’s assumptions 
which he himself seems to attach to them. 

Many persons have relied on the statements of Reich- 
enbach, as tending to show the identity between “ ani¬ 
mal magnetism” and what he calls od. But as “od ” is 
not a “ force,” it cannot be generically the same , even 
were it true that animal magnetism were a force (which 
I do not admit) in the sense imagined by those not 
familiar with the functions and laws of the human mind. 
It is true that Reichenbach speaks of the “ od ” as being 
sufficient to account for the light seen in cases of rapid 
crystallization, the luminous appearances sometimes 
seen in graveyards, certain effects of digestion and res¬ 
piration, and of many strange antipathies of mankind 
— all of which confirm Swedenborg’s doctrine of the 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


85 


spheres, while no one of his facts or experiments can be 
quoted in support of the notion that animal magnetism 
is a “ force,” (a physical substance, eliminated from one 
person, and forced into the body of another,) in the 
sense here intended. 

Is it not more correct to consider all exhalations 
thrown off from the human body as effete and un¬ 
healthy ? As a general fact they are so, we know, and 
hence it seems to me that these exhalations should not 
be spoken of as a “ force,” in the sense so zealously con¬ 
tended for'by some. I would suggest whether it be 
not time for us to cease speaking of “ od ” as a “ force ? ” 
Certainly w~e should not call it a “force” until it is 
proved to be one, and sure I am that this has never yet 
been done. 

But I shall not have rendered justice to this subject 
of “od,” I am sure, if I fail to notice the eager haste 
with which this notion has been seized upon by some 
of the clerical sectarians, who have adopted it as an 
antidote against the spread of Spiritism. Of this num¬ 
ber, the “ Rev. Asa Mahan, first president of Cleveland 
University,” may be considered somewhat in the light 
of a leader. In 1855, he published a 12mo of some 
five hundred pages, entitled “Modern Mysteries Ex¬ 
plained and Exposed.” In this attempt, Mr. Mahan 
goes upon the assumption that Reichenbach’s notion in 
respect to the od is true; and yet he speaks of having 
“exposed” or proved the falsehood of the mysteries 
which he traces to this same od as their cause. But, 
certainly, if the od notion be true, the mysteries must 
be a reality, of which this od is the producing cause. 

Mr. Mahan’s book was announced with a flourish 
of trumpets from the sectarian presses generally. For 

8 


86 


PATHETISM. 


months the papers teemed with preliminary notices, and 
Spiritists far and near were warned of the thunderbolts 
with which the Oberlin Professor was about to dash out 
their brains, if, indeed, they had any brains to be dashed 
out, which seemed to be a matter of some doubt. And 
so, after the Mountain had labored a while, the Od 
Theology was born. 

We have had our “Old’’and our “New Schools,” 
our Andover and New Haven Theologies, which may 
now be considered as having passed away and become 
obsolete. They are superseded by the “ Od ” Theology. 
The Westminster and Assembly’s Catechism were not 
sufficient. The Bible, the “old-fashioned Bible, that 
lay on the stand,” was not sufficient for the battle 
against the “ hypocritical monster,” A. J. Davis, and the 
progressive views so generally prevalent under the 
name of Spiritism. But how w^as this to be done? 
The Bible, the ministry of Baxter and Calvin, and Top- 
lady, and Hall, and Wesley, and Emmons, were not 
“ sufficient for these things.” The learned, Calvinistic, 
pious Mahan, could not find Bible enough, Holy Ghost 
enough, truth enough in all the records of the Prot¬ 
estant Faith with which to do sufficient service against 
the prevalence of liberal views, so Mr. Mahan concocts 
a new Theology, which he baptizes with the name of 
“ Od,” “ the odylic force? which “ tells fortunes,” “ sus¬ 
pends the law T s of gravitation,” moves heavy bodies 
without hands, and causes good and pious people, ortho¬ 
dox church members, to speak, dance, sing, write, 
preach, pray, and cut up “ antic tricks,” and all this, and 
more, is done while the persons are as unconscious of 
volition as the table or the chairs which this od jumps 
about as if the devil was in them! And this is the Od 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


87 


Theology of the nineteenth century! This is the last 
resort of Tradition, and Bigotry, and Sectarianism! 
So be it. This book is written by one of the most com¬ 
petent divines in all the ranks of sectarian theology. 
To this complexion it has come. The work is read by 
all parties in theology, Catholic, Protestant, and Jews. 
It is Sectarianism “ on its last legs.” If it fail here, it 
fails forever. 

Let us then come to the examination of this question 
in respect to what is called the “od.” We want to 
know whaC is true, what has been proved, what is the 
foundation on which our author’s most extraordinary 
assumptions are put forth concerning this “ od.” 

With President Mahan, as a man, I have no contro¬ 
versy. I have known him for many years, and believe 
him to be the very best man that could have been 
found for doing the work he has done. But, alas for 
him! alas for the “salvation of a lost and ruined world!” 
if his teachings of the Od theology are to be relied 
upon. If there be, as he tells us, a creative force in 
men, which impels them to act without volition, with¬ 
out consciousness, (and consequently without responsi¬ 
bility,) we are indeed “all afloat,” and where we shall 
bring up, the Lord only knows. 

My own experience in Psychology, and matters ap¬ 
pertaining to what our author calls “ the odylic force,” 
extends back some years, during which time I have not 
only read all the available works, whether German, 
French, or English, which have appeared, having any 
bearings on the subject, but as I have myself been en¬ 
gaged in “ revivals of religion,” and the “ conversion of 
sinners,” I shall be able to speak from my own personal 
knowledge, especially in reference to what our author 


88 


PATHETISM. 


calls “ the odylic force ” In od matters, it may perhaps 
appear that the writer is somewhat in advance of Pres¬ 
ident Mahan, who has never experimented on this sub¬ 
ject at all professionally. I have done so for a series of 
years. Hence I am the more certain that Mr. Mahan 
has egregiously, fatally erred on this subject, and in his 
attempts to “ expose ” what he supposes to be error, he 
has, more than any one thing else, “ exposed ” his own 
ignorance of the subject on which he has written, and, 
withal, taught doctrines that are fatally subversive 

OF HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY ! 

All I propose in these remarks is, to show that he 
has misstated the real question ; that he begs the ques¬ 
tion from first to last; that he has misstated facts ; that 
he is confused in his ideas, and lacks reliable informa¬ 
tion on this subject; that he is inconsistent with him¬ 
self ; and finally, that his u Od theology ” is subversive 
of human responsibility, and worse than the teachings 
of A. J. Davis, whom he denounces as a “ hypocrite and 
impostor; ” worse even than the rankest infidelity of 
Hobbs, of Hume, or Voltaire. 

The true question is not as to whether communica¬ 
tions are or are not made to mortals from Spirits out of 
the human body. The question at issue is in respect to 
physical bodies, physical laws, physical causes for cer¬ 
tain phenomena that have occurred! And yet on 
page 47 we have the “ issue ” stated, as to what Spirit¬ 
ists must or must not do! They must show that the 
laws of gravitation are suspended in certain cases by 
Spirits out of the human body! But, as the reader 
will perceive, the first and real question at issue has no 
reference to Spirits ; it is a question as to physical laws, 
a question of physical bodies, a question of fact as to 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


89 


the what of things. What has occurredf We all 
admit the phenomena in their fullest details. The table 
is raised from the floor, the laws of gravitation are over¬ 
come, and we ask, What has done it ? Do we know 
any physical cause adequate for producing the phe¬ 
nomena that have occurred f This is the question. 

Now if we cannot find any adequate physical cause, 
there may be such causes, for aught we know, or there 
may be purely Spiritual causes, which are matters of 
belief merely. For we may each believe what is suffi¬ 
ciently proved to our own spiritual senses. But this 
question is not one of mere belief. It is a' question of 
physical facts. Has the “ od,” so called, of Reichen- 
bach, any physical Force at all? And if so, how much 
force ? Is it purely physical ? Has it any such Force 
as is assumed by President Mahan ? 

From first to last, he does not attempt an argument 
on this question; nothing for proving that what we call 
“ od,” or the sphere , or insensible perspiration, ever has 
any “ Force ” at all! This is assumed without one 
particle of proof; nay, more, it is assumed in opposition 
to the explicit teachings of the German philosopher who 
originated this term of od, and who has done more to 
bring it into use than all other men in the world. He 
teaches us simply what Swedenborg calls the sphere of 
physical bodies. Reichenbach expressly declares that 
this exhalation has no force, it is inoperative, is slow, 
exceedingly slow in its motion, and is so perfectly 
weak that it is dissipated by a breath or puff of air! 
And yet Mr. Mahan would have us believe that philos¬ 
ophers (page 7) have taught that this od was a Force 
powerful enough to lift ponderous bodies, suspending 
the laws of gravitation, and overpowering even the 
8 * 


90 


PATHETISM. 


mind and nervous systems of mortals! Nay, he tells 
us that it is “ the will force,” (page 341,) which not 
only pervades the human organism, but all nature, and 
by which the most astonishing effects may he produced! 
And then he sweeps through his book, taking all the 
way the very thing for granted which he should first 
have proved. That od is known to have any such 
“ Force” as he assumes, I utterly deny! No true phi¬ 
losopher has ever proved, or assumed to have proved, 
any such idea; no one has ever taught any such doc¬ 
trine. There is no such “ Force ” yet discovered; it 
exists only as a figment of the Professor’s learning. The 
idea of “Force,” physical Force, intelligent, physical 
Force, yes, intelligent , (unconscious,) physical Force, 
in this oc?, was never thought of until what are called 
“ Spiritual Communications ” occurred, and it became 
desirable to account for certain phenomena without 
Spirits, for which no adequate physical cause could be 
"assigned ! As to whether there be any od or not, Pres¬ 
ident Mahan does not himself know by personal inves¬ 
tigation and experience; he believes what he has heard 
suggested by others, that there is an exhalation elimi¬ 
nated out of physical bodies, called od. So he takes up 
this report, and then jumps at a most extraordinary 
conclusion in respect to its nature, properties, and 
“ Force,” which is wholly gratuitous, and utterly unsup¬ 
ported by facts or philosophy. It is manifestly absurd 
upon the very face of it. As if the mere insensible 
perspiration that passes off from all bodies, a mere vapor, 
so weak that it cannot resist a puff of air, and yet it is 
so very “ odd ” that it evinces intelligence, such as love , 
hate , and choice of means; it lifts a physical body of 
five hundred pounds; nay, it overpowers the human 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


91 


mind, and compels people to act in a manner of which 
they have no consciousness whatever! And, for aught 
that he has shown, — indeed, this is the legitimate in¬ 
ference from his teachings, — this “od,” this “Will 
Force,” is the power by which all the “ revivals of reli¬ 
gion ” have been got up in past ages of the world, and 
it may have been the “ Force ” which impelled him to 
write the strange assumption we find put forth in the 
pages of this book! 

The same remark is applicable to President Mahan, 
that may be made of all who have attempted to write 
on this subject of the so-called Spiritual phenomena. 
Not one of them has shown himself familiar with all 
the facts that have occurred. And if it be asked here, 
Who is sufficiently familiar with all the facts ? I refer to 
the Rev. Dr. A. Phelps, of Stratford, Connecticut. And 
in saying this, I do not refer to the so-called Spiritists, 
or to those who are believers in the Spiritual theory; 
not at all. There are multitudes of intelligent, scien¬ 
tific gentlemen throughout the land, gentlemen not 
inferior to our author, who have witnessed these phe¬ 
nomena, but who will tell you, while they admit nothing 
in respect to the Spiritual theory, yet they insist that 
the phenomena have never been sufficiently accounted 
for by any laws that are known to appertain to this 
world. 

But our author is evidently not familiar with this 
whole subject: and hence he has not only assumed what 
is not true in respect to the od , but he has fallen into 
numerous errors when speaking on collateral subjects. 

Thus he confounds terms, (page 52,) where he calls a 
state or mental condition a “ substance.” He confounds 
the term “ force ” with a mere medium , through which 


92 


PATHETISM. 


a force is exerted, (page 62.) He states as “a fact” 
about Pathetisra, (page 108,) that which is not true in 
-the sense he asserts. He tells us that the influence 
known as Pathetism has polarity , (page 49-50;) a north 
and south pole. 

Speaking of this od , he says (page 63) it “ has polar¬ 
ity, and the property of attracting and repelling other 
bodies.” This is a great error. There is not the first 
particle of evidence that this od has the property of 
attracting and repelling other bodies. And it is mar¬ 
vellous how President Mahan could make a statement 
so important in its consequences, and yet so utterly 
unsupported. The od may attract or repel the od, 
according to Reichenbach, but nothing more. A vapor 
so attenuated, so utterly weak that it may be perverted 
by a puff of air, does not overcome the laws of gravita¬ 
tion in other bodies; much less does it overcome the 
human mind or the human body in the way the pro¬ 
fessor assumes. To talk in this way is an outrage upon 
science and sound philosophy. The Spiritual theory 
may be true or not, but if we know any thing of sound 
logic, any thing of science, any thing of Psychology, 
these extraordinary assumptions of President Mahan 
are not true. 

As I have stated, our author throughout his book 
admits the facts of Spiritism, and also the principal 
facts of Pathetism and induced clairvoyance. In doing 
this he has given great offence to certain parties who 
fear the Spiritual theory may be true. To avoid that 
issue as long as possible, they ignore the facts in toto. 
Like the ancient philosopher, who refused to look 
through the telescope of Galileo, for, said he, “ as sure 
as I do so, I shall be convinced! ” So many of the 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


93 


present day, in respect to these so-called Spiritual phe¬ 
nomena. They will not witness them, nor will they 
admit that others have witnessed them; for, once ad¬ 
mitting the phenomena, they fear that they might be 
compelled to admit something more than w r hat they 
know of this present world. It was for similar reasons 
that the class with whom our author is associated for¬ 
merly denied the fact of clairvoyance. But now we 
find no one who ignores clairvoyance. Every body, all 
the clergy especially, believe in it; and they do so, not 
perhaps because they know from experiments of their 
own that it is true, but because a belief in it enables 
them to account for Spiritual manifestations! 

But admitting (as I am willing to do) all our author 
says as to the character of these communications, he 
commits a gross and manifest fallacy in his reasoning 
on this feature of the subject. Because, he says, the 
communications never rise above the human mind, 
clairvoyant though they be, therefore they are produced 
by the “ odyYic, force ! ” But this does not follow. 

1. For of the clairvoyant power nothing is known. 
It may be by Spirits out of the body, for aught we 
know. 

2. Admitting clairvoyance to be true, and not know¬ 
ing the power by which it is exercised, it may extend 
into the spiritual world for aught we know. And if so, 
Mr. A. J. Davis may have given correct accounts of the 
Council of Nice and the books of the Bible. President 
Mahan’s inconsistency, therefore, consists in this: he 
admits the truth of clairvoyance, and because he can 
thus deny the fact of Spiritism, while in the same pages 
he denounces Mr. A. J. Davis as a “deliberate im¬ 
postor,” for having made certain statements merely from 


94 


PATHETISM. 


the exercise of his clairvoyant powers ! How is it that 
President Mahan does not seem to perceive that if 
clairvoyance can disprove the Spiritual theory, it may 
disprove the truth of the “ old family Bible that lay on 
the stand; ” or it may prove the truth of Mr. Davis’s 
averment concerning the Council of Nice ! Mr. w Clair¬ 
voyance ” is President Mahan’s own witness; and when 
he calls on him to testify against the Spiritual theory, 
he must be permitted to tell his own story in his own 
way. When clairvoyance does this, as we have seen, 
the evidence is not against the Spiritual theory, but for 
it; and, least of all, should our author turn upon his 
own witness, and denounce him as a “ deliberate im¬ 
postor.” O Mr. Mahan, that was scarcely mannerly, 
scarcely the manly thing to do that! What, denounce 
Mr. Davis as a hypocrite for having exercised his clair¬ 
voyant “ odylic force ” on which you depend so much ? 
This is hardly kind. And, besides, Mr. Davis was 
unconscious; he was under the power of President 
Mahan’s “odylic force” when he uttered those sen¬ 
timents about the Bible which our author denies. Why, 
then, denounce him? Is it justice, to say nothing of 
Christian charity, to denounce a man like Mr. Davis in 
this way, while acting in an “ unconscious ” state, under 
the controlling power of the “odylic force,” which 
President Mahan tells us produces clairvoyance, and all 
the wonders of the world ? 

Speaking of the “odylic force? Mr. Mahan says,— 

“It acts upon other objects, and is reacted upon by them as a very 
strong attractive and repulsive power; objects, in many instances, 
ev.en without visible control, being driven from or drawn towards such 
individuals, and, in other particulars, acted upon in a very singular 
and unaccountable manner. The physical systems of such individuals 
are very powerfully affected, so powerfully as in many instances to 
derange totally the acti-on of the mental powers / ” —page 64 . 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


95 


So here we have mental derangement and irrespon¬ 
sible action. And what, now, becomes of all our au¬ 
thor’s Christian objections to the infidelity and material¬ 
ism of Andrew Jackson Davis? Here is materialism as 
rank as any ever taught by Hobbes, or Hume, or Vol¬ 
taire. Yes, materialism, and the annihilation of human 
responsibility, such as was never taught by Turk, or 
Jew, or Infidel, before the days of the Rev. Asa Mahan! 
Look at it, analyze it, make the best you can of it, it is 
rank impiety, an utter annihilation of all moral respon¬ 
sibility, and a. covert for all the licentiousness and ras¬ 
cality which any mortal may choose to commit. It is 
the “ will force,” says our reverend author, “ which over¬ 
powers the mental functions, suspends the laws of grav¬ 
itation, annihilates human consciousness, and induces 
total derangement in the mental powers.” 

Such is the strange and unphilosophical position 
assumed by the “first president of the Cleveland Uni¬ 
versity,” for the purpose of refuting what he calls 
Spiritism. 

How the churches, and the Christian sects generally, 
will receive this od theology, remains yet to be seen. 
Taught as it is by a most excellent man, a learned 
divine, it is not to be supposed for one moment that his 
name will not be authority for many, who will gladly 
receive such teachings as a license for their iniquity. 
And if they should happen to be members of our au¬ 
thor’s own church, who should be detected in an infa¬ 
mous breach of the seventh commandment, what would 
he, what could he, say to them? If called to account, 
they appear with the Professor’s book in their hands, 
and, pointing to the sixty-fourth page, they show his 
authority for their defence, when they affirm that it was 


96 


PATHETISM. 


all done by the “ odylic force,” which overpowered their 
consciousness, and caused them to act as they did. To 
be consistent, Mr. Mahan could not object to such a 
defence, and, as his “ od ” theology prevails, we may 
expect to hear of this very excuse made by any and all 
the rascals in the land. They acted unconsciously by 
President Mahan’s “ odylic force! ” 

Now, what has our author “exposed?” Modern 
mysteries? Not at all. The phenomena of Spiritism? 
Why, he admits them all! And yet all through his 
book he speaks of exposing something! Well, I admit 
he has made an “expose” of something; but what that 
something is, whether it be himself or his subject, let 
the candid judge. The “mysteries” remain yet to be 
explained. Those who know the most of clairvoyance, 
say this power does not explain them. Those who 
know most of the “ od,” tell us that it is a mere vapor, 
an exhalation ,, wholly inoperative, and has no power at 
all. This does not explain them. Those who are 
understood to be the most experienced in Pathetism, 
tell us that influence is never extended over physical 
objects; it can never raise the table from the floor. 
Mesmerism says, “ The power is not in me.” The in¬ 
sensible perspiration, or odylic vapor, says, “ ’ Tis not in 
me.” The cause is yet to be discovered, and ’tis a con¬ 
summation most devoutly to be wished, that when this 
difficult problem is solved, indeed, if it ever should be 
solved in this world, it may be done in a manner which 
shall do no injustice to the conditions which constitute 
the Moral Responsibility of human beings, and the 
highest good of the race. 

But to return to Reichenbach; it may be in place to 
remark, that though there may be some apparent uni- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


97 


formity in the results which he developed from his 
“ Sensitives,” yet it must be borne in mind, that his own 
nervous or mental sphere entered into those experiments, 
and necessarily served to modify them in some form or 
other. A similar remark might be made on the experi¬ 
ments made by Dr. Buchanan, and the same may be 
said of experiments made by any man or woman, when 
they are performed through the nervous systems of one 
or more individuals. 

The sphere of the operator may, and often does, 
direct, modify* and control the whole! In cases, there¬ 
fore, where certain results are expected by the operator, 
or by his patients, and which depend upon the nervous 
susceptibilities of either party, we must bear in mind 
how much these results may vary, and with how much 
caution we should deduce conclusions from such experi¬ 
ments, as applying, always, to physical bodies. 

Popular Excitements. 

It is manifest, from this law , which has its origin in 
the idiosyncrasy or sphere of different “preachers of 
the gospel,” that what have been called “ revivals of 
religion,” have always had certain characteristics , de¬ 
pending on the views of the leaders by whom they were 
“ got up.” Thus, persons who were “ converted ” under 
the preaching of John Wesley, generally went through 
a certain routine of “ feelings ” and “ exercises,” as all 
have done, who have been since converted under the 
labors of Wesley’s followers. But those attracted by 
the writings of Swedenborg are “ converted ” by a dif¬ 
ferent process; and a similar remark might be made of 
“ revivals ” among the “ Baptists,” “ Presbyterians,” and 
“ Mormons; ” and, indeed, of particular “ revivals ” or 

9 


98 


PATHETISM. 


“ conversions,” under different preachers ; — they are, 
always, in some respect, characteristic , both of the men 
by whose spheres or influences they are got up, and the 
sectarian views by which they are governed. Hence, 
we may see John Wesley in a Methodist “revival.” 
We see George Fox in the Quaker meeting and cos¬ 
tume ; Ann Lee, in the Shaker habits, and the preacher, 
or founder of the sect , always, in his followers, and in 
the “ experience,” the views and feelings of all who are 
converted by their labors. In the nature of things, it 
must be so. Each one has his peculiar sphere , within 
which he will bring as many others as he finds congenial 
with himself, and the influence he exerts over them will 
distinguish him and them from all others, who are in¬ 
fluenced by another sphere , essentially or altogether 
different. 

And in these laws we find the reasons for that caution 
which all should exercise, before submitting their minds 
to the influences exercised by another. In each, there 
are certain leading traits of character, which they 
communicate. In one we may perceive the destructive¬ 
ness of the tiger; in another, the cunning of the fox; 
another, the secretiveness of the cat; another, the fidel¬ 
ity of the dog; another, the self-esteem of the peacock; 
another, the stubbornness of the donkey; and so of the 
swine, the goat, the lion, the horse, &c. We should be 
attracted by those who are above us in goodness and 
truth. 

The conclusion we come to, then, is this : that phys¬ 
ical qualities must be demonstrated by physical results ; 
nervous qualities by nervous results; and mental qual¬ 
ities or spheres by mental phenomena. True, we may 
be able to form just conclusions, in respect to physical 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


99 


bodies, from the effects they produce on the minds or 
nervous systems of “ Sensitives,” but the process must 
be very slow, as it is attended with many difficulties. 
It is an easy matter, indeed, to demonstrate whether a 
person is what Reichenbach calls a “ Sensitive,” or not; 
and so we may succeed in proving far more as to the 
ever-varying susceptibilities of the nervous system , than 
we can as to the inherent properties of the substances 
wffiich may be made to operate upon them. Reichen¬ 
bach commences his Treatise with the following re¬ 
mark : — * 

“If a strong magnet, capable of supporting ten pounds, be drawn 
downwards over the bodies of fifteen or twenty persons, without actually 
touching them, some among them will always be found to be excited 
by it in a peculiar manner.” 

Undoubtedly; and similar results would follow, if 
you passed a piece of chalk down their backs, provided 
they believed it was a magnet. Or, still better, blind¬ 
fold the “ fifteen or twenty persons,” and do nothing to 
them, but cause them to believe you are passing a 
powerful magnet down their backs, and you will find 
the results generally the same. 

Mental Spheres. 

In order to comprehend, then, how it is that one mind 
controls another, we must remember that every mind 
has its sphere , in a higher sense, than can be said of 
physical bodies. And, the lower the organism, the 
lower its sphere. 

Spheres affect spheres according to their chemical , 
mental , or spiritual affinities. So it is said the sphere 
of this Earth affects other globes, or is affected by them. 
The sphere of the Sun is determined by the extent and 
power of its heat and light. The spheres of two minds 


100 


PATHETISM. 


assimilate or unite, according to their mental affinities, 
or are repelled by their inherent antipathies, over which 
neither of them may have much, if any, control. 

And the allusion to the Earth and the Heavenly 
Bodies may suggest an idea with regard to space , which 
should be understood in order to comprehend how it is 
that one mind may affect another at a distance. The 
spheres of all bodies determine the influence they have 
upon one another, whatever the distance may be, or 
rather the distance is determined by their spheres. As 
the mind, therefore, ascends in the scale of existence, 
its sphere annihilates (so to speak) space; and hence it 
is, that qualities or states cannot be measured by space. 
What does Love, Goodness , Joy, Hope , know of space? 
And if these states exist without any reference to space, 
so may intuition, and the knowing faculties of the mind. 
Or, if we can understand the subject better, we may 
contemplate the spheres of physical bodies as the media 
through which they are perceived. And so the spheres 
of animal bodies may be the medium through which 
they affect one another, and the sphere of the mind the 
medium through which its knowledge is obtained. And 
this leads us to other laws of the nervous system, which 
we may now proceed to contemplate. 

Sympathetic Imitation. 

This doctrine of the spheres , or the qualities of 
things, explains how it comes to pass that certain per¬ 
sons may be compelled to imitate whatever they see 
done, or may be induced to feel , or see , or do whatever 
may be suggested to them, or they may have any con¬ 
ception of. And this very susceptibility to sympathetic 
imitation in certain persons, was described more thr.:. 
two hundred years ago. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


101 


. “ Men, if they see hut another man tremble, giddy, or sick of some 
fearful disease, their apprehensions and fear are so strong in this kind, 
that they will have such a disease. Or, if by some soothsayer, wise 
man, fortune-teller , or physician , [or lecturer,] they be told they shall 
have such a disease, they will so seriously apprehend it that they will 
instantly labor of it. If it be told them that they shall be sick on such 
a day, when that day comes they will surely be sick, and will be so ter¬ 
ribly afflicted that sometimes they will die upon it” — Burto?i's Anat. 
Mel., vol. i, p. 221. 

Mental Contagion. 

If one person is said to see a ghost, it not unfre- 
quently happens that a sensibility is awakened in the 
minds of many others, till the infection has spread, and 
ghosts are multiplied in proportion to the susceptibilities 
of the people who happen to hear the strange details of 
the departed spirits. So, if one in a family, or neigh¬ 
borhood, happens to have a singular dream, it is fol¬ 
lowed with others of the same kind. In a word, what¬ 
ever is related to the strange or marvellous, whatever is 
calculated to excite credulity or fear, operates by sym¬ 
pathy, and in this way we may easily account for the 
prevalence of many crimes, and the various forms of 
delusion, which have, from time to time, so much dis¬ 
turbed and cursed the world. 

There is a kind of contagion, purely mental, so to 
speak; there is a peculiar aptitude in minds, and society, 
to assume a peculiar train of thought or feeling, grave 
or gay, as the circumstances may dictate. The convul¬ 
sions among the children in the poor-house at Haarlem, 
under the inspection of Boerhaave, were caused and 
cured by these laws. 

Mr. Powers (Influence of the Imagination on the 
Nervous System) details the particulars of a family in 
Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where one of the children 
was affected with chorea, and five others exercised 
9 * 


102 


PATHETISM. 


themselves in imitating his odd gestures, until every one 
of them was irresistibly affected in the same way. And 
the spell was not broken until the father, one day, 
brought in a block and axe, and sternly threatened to 
take off the head of the first child who should exhibit 
any more of those singular gestures. 

Dr. Haygarth gives a similar account of the effects of 
sympathy, which took place in 1796, among some peas¬ 
ants in the Island of Anglesey. It commenced with 
one female, and in a short time extended to some twenty 
others. And a similar account is given by Rev. Mr. 
Archibald, of Unst, (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical 
Journal, vol. iii. p. 438.) He says, at first the affection 
commenced with a female; but on her manifesting the 
affection at church, it was immediately communicated 
to others. And in another parish, some sixty persons 
were seized in the same way; and being carried out 
and laid in the yard, they would struggle and roar with 
all their might, for five or ten minutes, and then rise up 
without remembering any thing that had happened to 
them. 

Sectarian Mania. 

Affections of the same kind prevailed among the 
Anabaptists in Germany, and the French Prophets in 
Dauphiny, and in England; and after them the Qua¬ 
kers, and also among the Puritans of New England, in 
1745, and more recently among the Methodists, Bap¬ 
tists, Presbyterians, and especially among the Mormons. 
Nor are these affections confined to Protestant sects; 
they have been equally prevalent among the Papists, 
and, indeed, among those who are not religiously dis¬ 
posed. I have been informed of similar affections 
among the Mahometans. A gentleman who has been 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


103 


among them during seasons of prayer, states, that for 
some time he had seen some of them convulsed, and 
they would emit a kind of froth at the mouth. Those 
less favored would take this foam from the mouths of 
their companions, and by rubbing it upon their own 
bodies, would thus excite a similar state of feeling and 
action in themselves. 

Diseases caused by Sympathy. 

That the affections above described were communi¬ 
cated by the laws of sympathetic imitation, there can 
be no doubt. And it would be equally easy to show 
that many diseases deemed contagious have been com¬ 
municated in the same way. The history of the Asiatic 
cholera would as plainly demonstrate the truth of this 
position, as it would prove that any such disease ever 
existed. In 1821, the cholera so raged in Bankok that 
in a short time four thousand persons died. The king 
appointed his nobles, priests, and astrologers to ascertain 
the cause of this scourge. After a long and very sol¬ 
emn investigation, it was the unanimous opinion of the 
council that it was produced by an evil spirit that vis¬ 
ited their shore in the shape of a fish, and that it was 
only necessary to fire their guns to get rid of the mon¬ 
ster. Accordingly the inhabitants assembled in masses 
on the beach with their guns, which they continued 
firing for some time, but without effect, as of those who 
were collected on the beach, seven hundred died there. 

Crimes from Sympathy. 

And the same might be said of other diseases and 
affections, both mental and physical, which are fre¬ 
quently known to gain upon individuals, families, neigh- 


104 


PATHETI9M. 


borhoods, and generally whole districts of country. 
Sometimes an enormous crime will be committed; and 
its flagrancy excites a kind of susceptibility in the mind 
of another, until it has been followed by a dozen or 
more of the same kind. 

Some of the above language is from my larger work; 
a fact which, perhaps, I ought to mention here, lest it 
might be supposed it had found its way into these pages 
from the writings of Mr. A. J. Davis, without the usual 
signs of credit. Compare “ The Great Ilarmonia,” 
(1852,) vol. iii. pp. 92, 93, 96, 101, 102, and 136, with 
Pathetism, (1847,) pp. 74, 75, 105, 102, 101, and 111, 
page with page, in the order here set down. To be 
sure, the matter is of no consequence at all, except in 
so far as it may render me liable to the suspicion of 
having quoted from Mr. Davis, without credit, when I 
am merely using my own language. 

Fanaticism from Sympathy. 

If one person makes a profession of having been 
“magnetized by spirits,” the idea impresses others in 
the same way, and thus convulsions, jerks, Jits, and the 
like have been known to spread from one family and 
one neighborhood to another, till innumerable multi¬ 
tudes have become “ obsessed ” with the same impres¬ 
sions, however wild and absurd those impressions may 
prove to be. 

The Relation. 

To understand fully the laws of association, or the 
source whence one mind acquires power over another, 
we must bear in mind what has been said of the spheres 
or qualities of different minds. This will prepare us to 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


105 


comprehend wliat is meant by that Relation upon 
which all power depends. This relation must, of course, 
take its character and extent from the spheres in which 
two different minds are developed, and from the sym¬ 
pathetic , imitative susceptibilities of one of the parties. 

If the brain is affected by the stomach, or vice versa , 
it is because they sustain a peculiar relation to each 
other, and so of every effect which comes to pass, 
throughout universal nature. Two things must not 
only exist, before the third is produced, but there must 
be a relation brought about between them; for, without 
this, there can be no cause, no effect of any kind. 
Some results may require more than two things to be 
combined, but it is a fact so well known, that no effect 
of any kind can be produced without a relation first 
established between an agent and a substance to be 
acted upon, that we need not stop here to argue this 
point. It is one of those self-evident truths, which 
every where first meets the opening senses of the hu¬ 
man mind, and therefore is no more susceptible of proof 
than one’s own consciousness of thinking, speaking, or 
acting. It will be sufficient, therefore, if I merely, in 
this connection, add what may be necessary to show 
how this first law of nature applies to the subject now 
under consideration. 

Illustration. 

If you take two pieces of soft, smooth iron, and apply 
them together, you will discover no attraction between 
them. But if you rub one upon the other, lengthwise , 
in one direction , only for a few minutes, you will per¬ 
ceive a mutual attraction between them. Now, we 
say this attraction depends on the relation established 


106 


PATHETISM. 


between those two pieces of iron, by bringing them in 
contact in that peculiar manner. For, if you merely 
strike, or rub one upon the other, very little or no 
effects of this kind are produced. So, if you take an 
ordinary iron rod, and hold it horizontally, on applying 
the needle it will not show any signs of polarity; but 
hold the rod, for a time, perpendicularly to the earth, 
and it acquires polarity, so as to affect the needle. The 
reason to be assigned for this is, that in the one case, 
the rod sustains a relation to the earth, from which its 
polarity is derived, which it does not sustain in the 
other. Zinc and copper produce no galvanic effect till 
a relation is established between them by a suitable 
fluid. 

So we say of light and heat. No effects are produced 
by the sun until his influence is extended to the earth, 
and a certain relation must be brought about between 
the earth and the sun before the process of vegetation 
is commenced; and not then, even, unless the sun is 
brought in contact with earth of a certain quality. 

All chemical results come to pass from relations es¬ 
tablished between two or more substances; and the 
effects depend always upon the spheres or qualities of 
the bodies which are brought together. This law is 
universal. True, when you bring two poles of the same 
denomination in contact, a result is produced, but it is 
of a negative character: they mutually repel or destroy 
each other. But, to bring about a positive result, to 
change the state of one substance or body, it must be 
brought into relation with another of an opposite qual¬ 
ity, — that is, one must be positive in respect to the 
other, which is negative. One is active, the other is 
passive. 


PHILOSOPHICAL, 


107 


Power of Habit. 

This relation is increased by habit, and sometimes 
acquires supreme control over the mind . This fact ex¬ 
plains how it is that some persons are made sick by the 
mere thought of an emetic. The mind having become 
accustomed to the effects produced by the drug, the 
mere sight or thought of it calls up this relation, and 
the sickness follows. So, when the mind becomes ha¬ 
bituated to the effects of any other medicine, or any 
peculiar process for the production of certain results, it 
is often affected by this relation in the same way. 

Instance the condition of one confirmed in habits of 
intoxication. While the rum bottle is out of sight, he 
remains quiet and sober; but on merely seeing the ves¬ 
sel from which he has so often quaffed the bewfitching 
liquid, his susceptibility is awakened at once, and his 
desire for it again becomes ungovernable, till he is car¬ 
ried into the vortex of destruction. 

What is called the “ association of ideas,” is attrib¬ 
utable to this same power. The sight of one object 
calls up another, with which it had become associated. 

The first note of a well-known tune brings to mind 
the entire piece of music. Cases of severe toothache 
have often been cured by the mere sight of the forceps. 
Persons injured by fright, in cases of fire, or great dan¬ 
ger, are sometimes alarmed on hearing similar sounds, 
or merely seeing any place or object which brings the 
scene again before the mind. Some will sink into a 
6tate of trance, by merely sitting in the chair where 
they have been often entranced before; and the sight 
of any place where the mind has been peculiarly im¬ 
pressed, revives the same feelings, and we live over 


108 


PATHETISH. 


again the scenes which, otherwise, had remained en 
tirely obliterated from recollection. 

Power of Faith. 

This relation , in some cases , seems to depend wholly 
upon the belief as to its nature , and the mind transfers 
it from one object to another . That the mind has this 
powder, is proved by innumerable facts. How else did 
it come to pass that the opiate given by Dr. Gregory 
operated according to what the patient thought it was, 
and not according to its real nature ? How else did it 
come to pass that Sir W. Ellis’s patient was salivated 
with bread pills ? Indeed, almost every practitioner of 
any considerable experience, will be found able to refer 
to cases of the same kind, when the effects of medicine 
have been just in proportion to the faith of the patient, 
and not according to their well-known medical prop¬ 
erties. 

So, when the Idea of “ spirits ” having the power to 
cause “mediums” to fall into a state of trance, and to 
write, or speak, or to cure disease, once gets full pos¬ 
session of the mind, this idea or belief will set the ma¬ 
chinery of certain temperaments to work. Thus it is 
that those results are brought about which are acted out 
by “spiritual mediums.” As the mediums have no con¬ 
scious volition in the matter, these results are supposed 
to come from departed spirits. But, unfortunately for 
“spiritualism,” technically so called, neither the “me¬ 
diums,” nor the “ spirits ” who speak through them, have 
ever been able to show us where the human ends and 
the really “ spiritual ” begins in these nervous phe¬ 
nomena. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


109 


The Trance. 

As we have seen, this term is used to signify a state 
of the nervous system, in which the mind is said to pass 
beyond the use of the external senses; a condition in 
which the mind is more or less active, without the nor¬ 
mal consciousness of the external world. It is so much 
like dreaming that it is sometimes difficult to distin¬ 
guish one of these states from the other. And a similar 
remark may be made of reverie , and cases of mild in¬ 
sanity. The pathology of these states seems to be so 
nearly the same, that they often run into one another, 
so that they appear to be traceable to similar conditions 
of the nervous system. The principal characteristics in 
a case of real trance are as follows: — 

1. Insensibility to the external world. The senses of 
hearing, seeing, and feeling are suspended. Sometimes 
one of these senses seems to be transferred to different 
jmrts of the body; so that the patient has the sense of 
sight in the coronal region, the occiput, or the epigas¬ 
trium. 

2. The mind is active, similarly as in dreaming and 
somnambulism. The patient moves about, talks, writes, 
and adapts appropriate means to ends, even beyond his 
capacity when in his normal state. There are other 
traits, but in different cases they vary in temperature, 
rigidity of muscles, state of the pulse, and the activity 
of all the mental functions. 

Ecstasy may be said to be the highest state of trance, 
when the mind is exalted to its utmost capacity in its 
emotions of joy. This state is rare, and occurs very 
seldom, being mostly confined to religious exercises. 

That class who partake of what is called the nervous, 

10 


110 


PATHETISM. 


sanguine, and lymphatic temperaments, are the most 
liable to fall into a state of trance. Those persons 
denominated mediums, or who are the most susceptible 
to the processes of Pathetism, are generally found to be 
more or less scrofulous, and are liable to mental and 
physical activity when asleep. All human beings may 
be entranced; as all may dream, may, from various 
causes, become somnambulic, or may, at times, sink into 
a state of reverie, or become insane. The elements of 
human nature are the same in all; but in tempera¬ 
ments we differ, and with these differences in our idio¬ 
syncrasies, correspond, all those changes to which we 
apply the terms of dreaming, trance, and somnam¬ 
bulism. 

The immediate cause of the trance, whether sponta¬ 
neous or artificially produced, is always in the mind, or 
in the nervous system of the patient. If it would be 
correct to say that the cause of dreaming, or of a state 
of reverie, is in one’s own mind, this must be equally 
true when said of the trance. It is self-induced, as 
really so as laughing, weeping, gaping, and common 
sleep. The suggestion may come from what we see in 
others, or from a thought, which, so to speak, sets the 
nerves in motion , which brings on the trance. Or, 
those motions may be excited by the state of the 
stomach, the health, or the state of the patient’s own 
mind. But, whatever outside effluences may be at¬ 
tempted, they produce no effects, except as they find 
the mind, or the nervous system of the patient, in a 
suitable condition, when it is set in motion, and thus 
the trance is induced. 

Hence it is manifest, that the remote causes of the 
trances may be as numerous as the forms and motions 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


Ill 


of the entire universe. That is, any motion, real or 
imaginary, any word or action, any emotion, thought, or 
idea, which can occupy or touch the mind, may set in 
motion those nervous changes which constitute the 
trance state. 

Now, we know what powers are within the range of 
Faith, Hope, and Fear, for creating and combining 
causes. These are the Faculties which carry us into 
the invisible world, where, indeed, we have no use 
for either of our external senses. Once fairly into that 
world, and we have little or no use for the most en¬ 
larged sphere" of experience ; neither science nor philos¬ 
ophy are available here. In this fruitful region of 
causes the strongest intellects are overpowered,— 
wrecked, it may be, and carried away into the invisible 
intangible, where dreams and delusive phantoms for¬ 
ever hold supreme control. 

Ecstasy, and the most interesting cases of trance, 
occur spontaneously, without any artificial processes 
adopted for their production. Hence it seems to me 
scarcely allowable to denominate those habits, now so 
common among a large class called “ mediums,” by the 
term trance. Whatever these habits may be, I am sure 
they cannot be justly denominated a state of real 
trance. As they are now occurring, they constitute a 
real mania, precisely similar to those sympathetic, imi¬ 
tative, nervous phenomena peculiar to the French 
Prophets, and all sectarian revivals. The “trance,” 
under “ spirit influence,” as it is said, generally does not 
seem to have much of the abnormal in it. The patient 
closes his eyes, it may be, twitches his muscles, or makes 
awkward motions with his hands, but his external senses 
are under his own conscious control, which is never the 


112 


PATIIETISM. 


case in the real trance. Nor do the mental activities 
alone, in speaking, writing, or music, demonstrate the 
reality of the trance. Unusual excitements of Hope, 
Faith, Joy, and all the Intellectual Faculties, occur from 
religious association, when children and masses of 
people sing, preach, and pray, with an eloquence and 
pathos which astonishes the beholder. It is now forty 
years since 1 witnessed this kind of “inspiration,” “vis¬ 
ions,” and trances in revivals. And I do not perceive 
why it may not be safe to look upon these nervous phe¬ 
nomena as of human origin, and to trace their induction 
to nervous and psychological laws. It may satisfy un¬ 
informed and superstitious people, to be told that all 
these strange results are induced by “ the Spirit of God,” 
or by “ that old boss devil,” or by a “ spirit,” or some 
imaginary personage from another world. But science 
and philosophy have claims upon us which cannot be 
met in this way. 

It seems to me that the trance mania, now r preva¬ 
lent to a great extent in these United States, must be 
considered confirmatory of the theory of Pathetism. 
When we cease to account for nervous phenomena by 
physiological laws, or mental results by laws included 
in the science of Psychology, we are in danger of float¬ 
ing upon an ocean of thought without light, or any 
tangible safe guide on which to rely for direction. Nor 
is it strange when mortals overlook the Forces that are 
in themselves adequate for inducing the changes that 
occur, that they should slide into extremes of fanat¬ 
icism, and imagine objects as far off as the stars in the 
heavens, to be the causes of what they themselves have 
said and done. 

The testimony of such persons as generally become 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


113 


the subjects of mental epidemics, cannot be relied upon 
certainly, not while they are, as they express it, “under 
the influence.” The physician called to treat a case of 
fits, or insanity, must, for himself and for science, inter¬ 
pret the account which his patient gives of his own 
case. Persons the most easily hallucinated, as all media 
confessedly are, cannot be relied upon as the most com¬ 
petent to judge accurately as to the real nature of the 
“ influence ” which they suppose to have been exercised 
over them. I do not say that mortals are never obsessed 
by departed spirits; what I affirm is, that while there 
are ten thousand well known suggestive remote causes 
near at hand for inducing the trance, I do not perceive 
any necessity for attributing this state to departed 
spirits. And the question is made all the more doubt¬ 
ful, when it is admitted on all hands that it is utterly 
impossible in any case to demonstrate what is called 
“ spirit influence.” For no one is able to tell where the 
nervous functions cease, and the really spiritual begin. 
Who can say, when speaking of nervous phenomena, 
“ This is pure spirit, and this is merely human ? ” And, 
as it is impossible to separate the human from the spir¬ 
itual, it seems to me we are bound to account for ner¬ 
vous phenomena by laws that appertain to this world, 
where there are known causes enough present, and in 
the human organism, adequate for their induction. 

Among the multitudes I have seen entranced, I have 
noticed invariably an incapacity in the subjects to judge 
accurately as to the rationale of the processes by which 
that state was induced. The erroneous notion taught 
under the name of Mesmerism in respect to the human 
will , has misled people, as may be easily shown by 
actual experiment. And this same error prevails in 
10 * 


114 


PATHETISM. 


respect to the “influence of spirits.” The “spirits” 
have never entranced any one, except first through the 
external senses of the patient. That is, the patient, 
before he is ever entranced by “ spirit influence ” at all, 
must hear about spiritism, and when the idea is once 
formed in his mind by reading about it, by hearing 
others speak of it, or by seeing others entranced as 
under the so-called “spirit influence,” his mind, his 
nervous system is thus rendered plastic , and he is pre¬ 
pared for self-induction. Nor have I ever found a case 
of trance produced in any medium by arrangement 
with “the spirits,” without the medium’s knowledge. 
Mediums fall into the trance any where and always, it 
may be, as it is said, under “spirit influence,” when 
there is any occasion for expecting it; but when you 
get a promise from “the spirit,” unknown to the me¬ 
dium whom that spirit is said to control, to induce the 
trance at some odd time when the medium is not ex¬ 
pecting it, you will find, as I have, that the invisible 
“spirit” is non est inventus. The trance, then, is spon¬ 
taneous ; it comes on often without any artificial means. 
And as these cases are the most interesting in the study 
of the Pathology and the Philosophy of this subject, 
let us now proceed in their consideration. 

Drs. Righellini and Pigatti describe, from their own 
observation, the trance of a man servant named Ne- 
gretti, twenty-four years of age, who, from his eleventh 
year, had experienced attacks of the disease in March, 
not extending beyond April. March 16, 1740, after 
going to sleep on a bench in the kitchen, he first began 
to talk, then walked about, went to the dining room 
and spread a table for dinner, and placed himself behind 
a chair with a plate in his hand, as if waiting on his 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


115 


master, the Marquis Luigi Sale. After waiting till he 
thought his master had dined, he cleared away, and put 
all the things into a basket, which he locked up in a 
cupboard. He afterwards warmed a bed, locked up the 
house, and prepared for rest. Being then awakened, 
and asked if he remembered what he had been doing, 
he answered, “No.” Often, however, he did remember. 
On the 18th of the same month, he went through the 
same process, but instead of going to bed, went into 
the kitchen and sat down to supper. Dr. Righcllini, 
with many others, was very curious to see him eat. 
At once recollecting himself, the man said, “ How can I 
so forget? To-day is Friday, and I must pot dine.” 
He then locked up every thing, and went to bed. If 
water was thrown in his face, or his eyes were forcibly 
opened, he would awake, but remained some time faint 
and stupid. His eyes were firmly closed in the par¬ 
oxysm, and he took no notice of a candle placed close 
to them. Sometimes he w r ent against the wall, and even 
hurt himself severely. If any body pushed him, he got 
out of the way, and moved his arms rapidly on every 
side; and, if in a place with which he was not w T ell 
acquainted, he felt all the objects around with his hand, 
and showed much inaccuracy; but in places familiar to 
him, he was not confused, and went through with his 
business well. After Dr. Pigatti had shut a door 
through v r hich he had passed, he struck himself against 
it on returning. Sometimes he carried a candle about, 
but on a bottle being substituted, he carried it about as 
if it were a candle. Dr. Pigatti was certain he could 
not see. Once, in his sleep, he said he must go and 
hold a light to his master in the coach. Dr. Righellini 
followed him closely, and found that he stood at all the 


116 


PATHETISM. 


corners of the streets with his torch not lighted, waiting 
a while in order that the coach, which he fancied was 
following, might pass, when the light was required. On 
one occasion he ate several cakes and some salad for 
which he had just asked the cook. He then went with 
a lighted candle into the cellar and drew wine, which 
he drank. He would carry a tray with wine-glasses 
and knives, and turn it obliquely, to avoid an accident, 
on passing through a narrow doorway. Dr. Pigatti 
once substituted some very strongly-seasoned cabbage 
for a salad which he had prepared, and had sat down to 
eat: he ate the cabbage, and then some pudding which 
was substituted for it, without perceiving the difference. 
At another time, having asked for wine, he drank water 
which was given to him; and sniffed ground coffee 
after asking for snuff. 

Dr. Francesco Soave relates the case of Castelli, the 
pupil of an Italian apothecary. The youth was found 
asleep one night, translating Italian into French, and 
looking out the words in a dictionary. They put out 
his candle, when, finding himself in the dark, he began 
to grope for it, and went to light it at the kitchen fire, 
though other candles were alight in the room. At 
other times he had gone down to the shop and weighed 
out medicines, and talked to supposed customers. 
When any one conversed with him on a subject on 
which his mind was bent, he gave rational answers. 
He had been reading Macquer’s Chemistry, and some¬ 
body altered his marks. This puzzled him, and he said, 
“ Bel piacere di togliermi i segniP He found his place 
and read aloud, but his voice growing fainter, his master 
told him to raise it, which he did. Yet he perceived 
none of the persons standing round him; “ and though 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


117 


he heard,” says Dr. Soave, “any conversation which 
was in conformity with the train of his ideas, he heard 
nothing of the discourse which these persons held on 
other subjects. His eyes seemed to be very sensible to 
objects relating to his thoughts, but appeared to have 
no life in them; and so fixed were they, that when he 
read, he was observed not to move his eyes, but his 
whole head from one side of the page to the other.” 

In 1686, Lord Culpepper’s brother was indicted at 
'the Old Bailey for shooting one of the guards and his 
horse. He pleaded somnambulism, and was acquitted 
on producing ample evidence of the extraordinary 
things he did in his sleep. There is a somewhat similar 
story of a French gentleman, who rose in his sleep, 
crossed the Seine, fought a duel, and killed his antag¬ 
onist, without recollecting any of the circumstances 
when awake. 

A young man named Johns, at Cardrew, near Red¬ 
ruth, England, being asleep in the sumpter-house of 
that mine, was observed by two boys to rise and walk 
to the door, against which he leaned; shortly after, 
quitting this position, he walked to the engine shaft, 
and -safely descended to the depth of twenty fathoms, 
where he was found by his comrades soon after, with 
his back resting on the ladder. They called to him to 
apprise him of the perilous situation, but he did not 
hear them, and they were obliged to shake him roughly 
till he awoke, when he appeared totally at a loss to 
account for his situation. 

In the following cases a partial increase of mental 
power took place, as is sometimes noticed in insanity 
and common dreams, showing their similarity, as I have 
stated above: — 


118 


PATHETISM. 


A boy dreamed that he got out of bed, and ascended 
to the sum mi t of an enormous rock, where he found an 
eagle’s nest, which he brought away with him, and 
placed under his bed. Now, the whole of these events 
actually took place; and what he conceived, on awak¬ 
ing, to be a mere dream, was found to have had an act¬ 
ual existence, by the nest being found in the precise 
spot where he imagined he had put it, and by the evi¬ 
dence of the spectators who beheld his perilous adven¬ 
ture. The precipice which he ascended was of a nature 
which must have baffled the most expert mountaineer, 
and such as, at other times, he could not have scaled. 

Gassendi speaks of a man who often rose in his sleep, 
went into a cellar and drew wine, appearing to see in 
the dark as in the day; but when he awoke, either in 
the cellar or in the street, was obliged to grope his way 
back to bed. He often thought there was not light 
enough, and thought he had risen too early, and there¬ 
fore struck a light. He tells of another who passed on 
stilts “ over a torrent, asleep, one night, and on awaking 
was afraid to return before daylight, and before the 
water had subsided.” 

A female servant in the town of Chelmsford, Eng- 
land, surprised the family at four o’clock one morning, 
by walking down a flight of stairs in her sleep, and 
rapping at the bedroom door of her master, who in¬ 
quired what she wanted; when, in her usual tone of 
voice, she requested some cotton, saying that she had 
torn her gown, but hoped that her mistress would for¬ 
give her, at the same time bursting into tears. Her 
fellow-servant, with whom she had been conversing for 
some time, observed her get out of bed, and quickly 
followed her, but not before she had related this pitiful 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


119 


story. She then returned to her room, and a light hav¬ 
ing been procured, she was found groping to find her 
cotton box. Another person went to her, when, per¬ 
ceiving a difference in the voice, she called out, “ That 
is a different voice — that is my mistress; ” which was 
not the case — thus clearly showing she did not see the 
object before, although her eyes were wide open. Upon 
inquiry as to what was the matter, she only said that 
she wanted some cotton, but that her fellow-servant 
had been to her master and mistress making a fuss 
about it. 

A lad named George David, sixteen years old, in the 
service of Mr. Hewson, a butcher in Bridge Road, Lam¬ 
beth, England, at about twenty minutes past nine, one 
morning, bent forward in his chair, and rested his fore¬ 
head on his hands, and in ten minutes started up, went 
for his whip, put on one spur, and went thence into the 
stable; not finding his own saddle in the proper place, 
he returned to the house and asked for it. Being asked 
what he wanted with it, he replied, to go his rounds. 
He returned to the stable, got on his horse without the 
saddle, and was proceeding to leave the stable; it was 
with much difficulty and force that Mr. Hewson, assisted 
by the other lad, could remove him from his horse ; his 
strength was great, and it was with difficulty he was 
brought within doors. The lad considered himself as 
stopped at the turnpike gate, and took sixpence out of 
his pocket to be changed; and holding out his hand for 
the change, the sixpence was returned to him. He im¬ 
mediately observed, “Hone of your nonsense, that is 
the sixpence again; give me my change.” When two 
pence halfpenny was given to him, he counted it over, 
and said, “Hone of your gammon, that is not right; I 


120 


PATHETISM. 


want a penny more,” making the three pence halfpenny, 
which was the proper change. He then said, “ Give me 
my castor,” (meaning his hat,) which slang term he had 
been in the habit of using, and then began to whip and 
spur to get his horse on. His pulse was at this time 
136, full and hard; no change of countenance could be 
observed, nor any spasmodic affection of the muscles, 
the eyes remaining closed the whole of the time. Dur¬ 
ing the time of bleeding, Mr. Hewson related a circum¬ 
stance of a Mr. Harris, optician, in Holborn, whose son, 
some years since, walked out on the parapet of the 
house in his sleep. The boy joined in the conversation, 
and observed, “He lived at the corner of Brownlow 
Street.” Soon after the arm was tied up, he unlaced 
one boot, and said he would go to bed. In three min¬ 
utes from this time he awoke, got up, and asked what 
was the matter, (having been then one hour in the 
trance,) not having the slightest recollection of any 
thing that had passed, and wondered at his arm being 
tied up, and at the blood. 

The case of Rachel Baker, or the sleeping preacher, 
as she was called, is well known. This lady fell into 
bad health, and under its influence she disturbed and 
amazed her family by her sleeping eloquence. Her 
parents made a tour -with her of some length, and vis¬ 
ited New York and some other of the cities of the 
Union. I know individuals who have heard her preach 
during the night; and it was customary, at tea parties, 
to put the lady into bed in a room adjacent to the 
drawing-room, in order that the persons present might 
hear her exhortations and prayers, delivered during a 
state of profound sleep. 

Dr. Darwin relates the case of a young lady about 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


121 


seventeen years of age, who, every day for five or six 
weeks, had fits of violent convulsions, then retchings, 
next equally violent hiccoughs, then tetanus, and at last 
soraniloquism and somnambulism, becoming insensible, 
yet singing, quoting whole passages of poetry, and hold¬ 
ing conversations with imaginary persons, and coming 
to herself with great surprise and fear, but with no 
recollection of what had happened. At length, she 
could walk about the room in the fit without running 
against the furniture, and evidently had some external 
sense; for she took a cup of tea, and expressed a fear 
that there was poison in it; and seemed to smell at a 
tuberose, and deliberated about breaking the stem, be¬ 
cause it would make her sister so charmingly angry. 
She once heard a bell, was less melancholy when the 
shutters were open, and impatient if a hand was held 
over her eyes, or her hands were held down, saying 
“ she could not tell what to do, as she could neither see 
nor move.” 

Gall describes the case of a young man at Berlin, 
who had extraordinary attacks from time to time. He 
was agitated in bed without consciousness; his move¬ 
ments and gestures showed a great activity of many 
internal organs; whatever was done to him, he did not 
perceive it; at length he jumped out of bed, and walked 
hastily in the apartment; his eyes were then fixed and 
open. He placed different obstacles in his way, which 
he removed with his hand, or carefully avoided; then 
he threw himself suddenly on his bed, was agitated 
there some time, and at length awoke and sat up, very 
much astonished at the number of curious persons who 
were about him. 

M. Joseph de Koggenbach, at Friburg, in Brisgau, 

11 


122 


PATHETISM. 


told Dr. Gall, in the presence of many witnesses, that 
he had been a somnambulist from his infancy. In this 
state his tutor had made him read; made him look for 
places on the map, and he found them more readily 
than when awake; his eyes were always open and 
fixed; he did not move them, but turned his whole 
head. Many times they held him, but he felt the re¬ 
straint, endeavored to liberate himself, but did not wake. 
Sometimes he said he should wake if they led him into 
the garden, and this always happened. 

Professor Upham, of Bowdoin College, speaks of a 
farmer who rose in his sleep, went to his barn, and 
threshed out five bushels of rye in the dark, separating 
the grain from the straw with great exactness. 

The Portland (Maine) Bulletin of November 1,1842, 
refers to the case of Captain Jeremiah Brown, of that 
place, who, being sick, and confined to his berth while 
at sea, saw distinctly all that transpired around him. 
He saw vessels as they passed him, and others at an¬ 
chor, told what took place on board of them, the truth 
of which was attested by his mate and others, to whom 
he related what he saw. 

A scientific friend of the author’s in New York, de¬ 
scribes, in the Magnet for November, 1842, the case of 
his own sister, who would become exceedingly alarmed 
in a sound state of sleep. Her screams would arouse 
the whole family. Lights brought to her showed her 
eyes wide open, streaming with tears, while all efforts 
to bring her to a state of consciousness proved un¬ 
availing. 

A patient in New York whom I recovered from 
a dreadful state of nervous derangement, often con¬ 
versed in her sleep, and I have heard her repeat some 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


123 


of the most beautiful strains of poetry, and of which 
she did not seem to have any knowledge in her nor¬ 
mal state. 

The case of the young ecclesiastic related by the Arch¬ 
bishop of Bourdeaux, is well known. He imagined 
himself one night, in the midst of winter, walking on 
the bank of a river, and seeing a child fall in, who was 
drowning. He instantly threw himself on his bed in 
the posture of swimming — performed the motions of 
swimming, till he seemed to have fatigued himself, 
when he felt on the corner of the bed a bunch of the 
covering, which he took for the child. He seized it 
with one hand, and continued to swim with the other, 
returning, as it were, to the bank of the river. He then 
laid down his burden, and came out of the water shiv¬ 
ering, and his teeth chattering, as if he had been really 
in a frozen river. He said to those about him, that he 
was freezing — that he should die with cold — that his 
blood was frozen. He asked for a glass of brandy to 
warm him, but there being none at hand, they gave 
him water. He tasted it, perceived the cheat, and de¬ 
manded more sharply, telling them the danger he was 
exposed to. They gave him some cordial, which he 
drank with much satisfaction, and said it gave him great 
comfort. He did not, however, awake, but went to bed 
again, and slept more tranquilly. 

The Bishop further informs us, that this young man 
would arise from his sleep, go to his room, take pen, ink, 
and paper, and compose good sermons. When he had 
finished a page, he would read it aloud, and correct it. 
Once, he had written, ce devin enfant; in reading over 
the passage, he substituted adorable for devin; but ob¬ 
serving that ce could not stand before adorable , he 


124 


PATHETISM. 


added t. The archbishop held a piece of pasteboard 
under his chin , to prevent him from seeing the paper on 
which he was writing , but he wrote on, not at all incom¬ 
moded. The paper on which he was writing w r as then 
removed, and another piece substituted, but he instantly 
perceived the change. He wrote pieces of music in 
this state, with his eyes closed. The words were under 
the music, and once were too large, and not placed ex¬ 
actly under the corresponding notes. He soon per¬ 
ceived the error, blotted out the part, and wrote it over 
again with great exactness. 

The following is interesting, as it is the account 
which a somnambulist gives of himself, and his own 
feelings, as near as he could recollect while in that state. 
It is from a letter written me February 14, 1843, by Mr. 
John Wise, who has since become so famous as an 
aeronaut. 

“ From the age of ten to fifteen, it was almost a nightly habit with 
me to get up from my bed and travel through the whole house, unbar¬ 
ring the doors, and walking through the different apartments with the 
greatest ease in utter darkness, sometimes unlocking the back door, 
and travelling into the yard and out-houses, stopping at different 
places, and examining, apparently with the nicest precision, such arti¬ 
cles as happened to fall in my way. 

“ Yet after being awakened, not the slightest recollection remained 
of what had happened. During some of these nocturnal excursions, I 
opened a dormer window, and crawled out thence to the very apex of 
the roof! On one of these occasions, after getting on the top of the 
house, I was awakened by a slight shower of rain, and it was with diffi¬ 
culty I made a safe descent by way of the next neighbor’s house, which 
obliged me to rouse the family in order to get back to my bed again. 

“ The most singular feat, however, that I performed in the somnam¬ 
bulic state, was a situation that I got into, out of which I could not 
extricate myself again in a waking state, neither could I, upon trial, 
without the assistance of something to step on first, get into it again. 
The room in which I slept at this time had in it an old-fashioned cradle 
of double length, made for twin babes. This was placed upon a long, 
narrow keg, which stood on its ends, so that when standing alongside 
of it, the sides of the cradle came within two inches of my chin, and it 
was so poised, that a slight preponderance either way would capsize it. 
During one of my nocturnal perambulations in the middle of the night, 
by some means I got into this cradle, without the assistance of any 
thing that would enable me to step up, save some strange, inexplicable 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


125 


•cause. It was a cold winter night, and I became awakened while in 
the act of pulling books from around me, which were in the cradle at 
the time. After being perfectly awakened, it required a great deal of 
caution to support my centre of gravity, until I had called the assist¬ 
ance of some of the family to enable me to get down. 

“In the somnambulic state, I am told my eyes are wide open, and 
have a glassy appearance. Although I w T ould answer questions, and 
talk freely on subjects that were indicated by my conduct, yet it was 
next to impossible to waken me by any other process than the applica¬ 
tion of cold water. After a more advanced age, these symptoms have 
taken a different form, my nightly perambulations being confined to my 
chamber, and they are more particularly connected with the organs of 
hearing and vision. It does appear that, like the inner vision without 
the aid of the external eye, there is also a distinct faculty of hearing, 
independent of the external ear. This has been experienced by per¬ 
sons of my acquaintance. I have frequently hastened to the place from 
whence sounds appeared to come. Generally it appears to be the call¬ 
ing of my name, by persons whose voice I can recognize ; but the most 
frequent delusions are through the eye. These symptoms, from their 
frequency, although not fearful in themselves, have been of late a 
source of annoyance, and they always occur in a half-waking condition. 
The clearer and smoother the chamber in which I sleep, the less am I 
annoyed with these delusions. Of these symptoms and their opera¬ 
tions, I have a tolerable distinct recollection afterwards. I generally 
find myself sitting up in bed, in the act of getting up and moving 
towards the objects, which mostly appear to be human beings, and often 
persons of my acquaintance. Although this happens to me in a half¬ 
waking condition, still I possess the faculty of reasoning within myself 
upon the necessity of not minding these delusions, but seldom become 
perfectly satisfied until I get up and try to touch the object; but inva¬ 
riably get awake on being touched by another person. After being 
awakened, it has often appeared to me that a conflict had been going 
on between the material and spiritual functions.” 

A young lady about sixteen years of age made a pub¬ 
lic profession of religion, and connected herself with 
one of the Methodist Episcopal churches in New York, 
April 4, 1843. For ten days, she lay most of the time 
in a state of trance , as her religious friends called it. It 
commenced very soon after she had been much excited , 
and had professed to become completely sanctified. 
She was observed to fail into an apparently unconscious 
6tate, and the limbs becoming quite rigid, precisely like 
the cases I have before described of natural somnam¬ 
bulists, or when I have induced the state by Pathetism. 

This was, undoubtedly, a case of somnambulism, 
although her friends (some of them) thought it quite 

11 * 


126 


PATHETISM. 


miraculous . She had, occasionally, a correct perception 
of the characters of different persons who entered her 
room, and addressed them in reproofs, or exhortations 
to prayer and praise, according to their various char¬ 
acters, though she had had no previous knowledge of 
them beforehand. When one entered her room who 
was believed to be good, she clasped her hands into the 
form of what she called “ a crown,” and placed them 
upon his head; and the statements she made about the 
characters, views and feelings of those who went to see 
her, were considered by her friends as the miraculous 
interpositions of the Divine Being. 

One of her friends, a clerical lady, seemed to view it 
as quite profane, when I informed her that I had put 
persons into a state precisely similar, in which they had 
made descriptions of the characters of strangers, every 
way as correct and remarkable as in the present case. 
And it is curious enough, to see how honestly many 
good people will believe in a case of natural clairvoy¬ 
ance, when they are horror-struck at being told that the 
same state may be artificially induced, without any thing 
of the miraculous in it. 

One of the most remarkable trances upon record, is 
that of the well-known William Tennent, a Presbyte¬ 
rian clergyman, then of Brunswick, New Jersey. There 
are persons now living who knew this man, and some 
who still believe he actually died, or left the body, and 
went to heaven. The following is his own account 
of it: — 

“ While I was conversing with my brother on the state of my soul, 
and the fears I had entertained of my future welfare, I found myself in 
an instant in another state of existence, under the direction of a su¬ 
perior Being, who ordered me to follow him. I was accordingly wafted 
along, I know not how, till I beheld at a distance an ineffable glory, 
and the impressions of which on my mind it is impossible to commu- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


127 


tiicate to mortal man. I immediately reflected on my happy change, 
and thought — Well, blessed be God! I am safe at last, notwith¬ 
standing all my fears. I saw an innumerable host of happy beings 
surrounding the inexpressible glory, in acts of adoration and joyous 
worship ; but I did not see any bodily shape or representation in the 
glorious appearance. I heard things unutterable. I heard their songs 
and hallelujahs of thanksgiving and praise, with unspeakable rapture. 
I felt joy unutterable and full of glory. I then applied to my con¬ 
ductor, and requested leave to join the happy throng; on which he 
tapped me on the shoulder, and said, ‘You must return to earth.’ 
This seemed like a sword through my heart. In an instant I recollect 
to have seen my brother disputing with the doctor. The three days 
during which I had appeared lifeless seemed to be not more than ten 
or twenty minutes. The idea of returning to this world of sorrow and 
trouble gave me such a shock, that I fainted repeatedly. Such was 
the effect on my mind of what I had seen and heard, that if it be pos¬ 
sible for a human being to live entirely above the world and the things 
of it, for some tinSe afterwards I was that person. The ravishing 
sound of the songs and hallelujahs that I heard, and the very words 
that were uttered, were not out of my ears for at least three years. 
All the kingdoms of the earth were, in my sight, as nothing and 
vanity; and so great were my ideas of heavenly glory, that nothing 
which did not in some measure relate to it, could command my serious 
attention.” 

The Papists have, from the beginning of their his¬ 
tory, manifested great enthusiasm in detailing accounts 
of what they call “ miraculous ” ecstasy; and they have 
circulated immense editions of a pamphlet, entitled, 
“The Virgins of the Tyrol,” throughout this country 
and in Europe, which purports to give an account of 
two Austrian girls, who had been in this state for some 
eight years. The author of this pamphlet is said to be 
the Earl of Shrewsbury; ” but he does not seem to 
have been shrewd enough, whoever he may be, to see 
that he has been most egregiously deceived in supposing 
that no such results as he describes could be traced to 
the laws which induce a spontaneous state ot somnam¬ 
bulism. He thinks, because these girls were not “ mes¬ 
merized” by any one, that their state must be mirac¬ 
ulous. But that these virgins were of the sympathetic 
temperament, is fully proved by the account he himself 
has given of them. As these cases are deemed of so 


128 


PATHETISM. 


much importance, no apology will be necessary for 
attempting, here, to show their identity, so far as there 
may be any thing real in them, with the common cases 
of somnambulism. As, for instance: — 

1. Their health and temperament. It is well known 
that disease predisposes persons of a certain tempera¬ 
ment to this state. And it is said of these girls, Maria, 
“in her early years, had various attacks of illness;” 
and, it seems, from 1882 she had been, most of the time, 
confined to her bed with indisposition. Her tempera¬ 
ment is manifest, from expressions made of her like 
these: “ Her hazel eye,” and “ her look is so open,” &c. 
Similar expressions, also, occur of the other, Domenica, 
who, it is said, enjoyed good health till 1828, since 
which time she had been indisposed, and for more than 
eight years confined to her bed. Here, then, is the 
foundation for all the wonders of their trances. 

2. The manner in which these states of trance were 
commenced. For instance, of Maria, it is said,— 

“ When, in 1832, she had attained her twentieth year, she evinced 
the first symptoms of ecstasy, falling into that state each time she re¬ 
ceived the holy communion .” 

And of Domenica, it is also said, — 

“ In the year 1833, she was first observed to fall into ecstasy after 
receiving the holy communion , but without rising from her bed.” 

I have seen scores of persons, after kneeling in prayer, 
and others, when kneeling at the altar in Methodist 
churches for receiving the sacrament, fall into this state, 
and become apparently unconscious, precisely like what 
is said of these two nuns. 

8. Perceptions , without the use of the organs of sight 
or hearing. Instances are given, where it is said these 
nuns had perceptions of the approach of the mass; and 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


129 


one of them, it is said, as it was carried through the 
town, “turned to it as the needle turns to the pole.” 
And this, the Catholic is taught to believe, is mirac¬ 
ulous, and demonstrative of the truth of Popery. 

4. State of unconsciousness. The authors of this 

book think it quite miraculous, that these “virgins,” 
during their ecstasy, should have their “eyes wide 
open,” without seeing, so that when “ a candle is held 
near the eye,” or when a fly lights upon the eyeball, 
they do not wink at all — a phenomenon now quite 
common. ~ _ 

5. Surprising positions of the body. It is mentioned 
as another miraculous effort of the Divine power, in the 
case of these virgins, that their bodies frequently as¬ 
sume very singular positions; as, for instance, one 
says she 

“ Had seen Maria raised up in the air so far, at least, as only to 
touch the bed with the very extremities of the feet.” 

6. Effects of contact with others. Every operator 
must have noticed the curious effects produced by 
merely touching persons of this peculiar sensibility, 
whether they be touched by the operator or any other 
person. So it is said of these virgins : — 

“ The chaplain desired me to touch her hand, when the slightest 
pressure of my finger upon hers made her own fall several inches, and 
put her into a swinging motion from side to side. This movement was 
considerably increased by the same person blowing at her gently with 
his breath, so exceedingly aerial and unsubstantial is her frame.” 

The above is a specimen of the manner of experi¬ 
menting practised by the Papist priests on the “ virgins 
of the Tyrol.” 

Again: we know how instinctively some tempera¬ 
ments shrink from the touch of persons. Just so these 
virgins: — 


130 


PATHETISM. 


“ During this period, her right arm hung down partly beyond the 
bed; I touched her hand, when it shrank from the touch like the leaf 
of a sensitive plant, and then, like it, remained in the new position 
which it had assumed.” 

7. Manner of inducing and removing the ecstasy. 
Some persons fall instantly into this state by merely 
touching them, and some sink into it by merely looking 
at them; and others fall into it when seated in the 
same chair where they had frequently been put to sleep 
before. Precisely so these “ Virgins of the Tyrol: ” 

“ When her confessor [in another place the priests are called ' the 
keepers of her conscience ,’] sees occasion to require it, she falls at his 
bidding into this state.” 

And thus she is brought out of it: 

“Yet, with all this, it requires no effort, no noise, nor hardly any 
ostensible agency, to break the spell; a gentle touch or whisper from 
her confessor, or any ecclesiastic with whom she is acquainted, is suffi¬ 
cient to dissolve the charm, completely and at once.” 

I might trace the identity between these cases and 
the ordinary states of trance still further were it ne¬ 
cessary. But the above is sufficient to put this fact 
beyond all doubt. But the devoted Papist will remind 
me, that I have not noticed two of the most remarkable 
miracles described in these cases; and he will ask how 
I account for the “ Stigmata?” For instance, there are 
plates giving the appearance of these virgins, and one 
of them is represented as bleeding in the forehead and 
temples, the outside and inside of the hands, and in the 
insteps of the feet, and also in the side, in resemblance 
of the places in the body of Christ, where he was 
wounded when crucified ! And we are told, that the 
blood is seen to ooze from these wounds every Friday , 
and while the patient lies upon her back the blood from 
the insteps actually runs upwards towards her toes , 
instead of following the laws of gravitation downward. 


PHILOSOrmCAL. 


181 


Nor is this the most of this story, for it is added, that 
one of these virgins “ has neither ate , nor drank, nor 
slept , for more than eight years ! ” And to prove this 
account true, the book refers to another case, where a 
Papist is said to have lived u for twenty years in perfect 
health and strength , without tasting food at all! ” 

All I have to say to these representations is, to affirm 
their falsehood. And lies so monstrous put the shade 
of doubt on the other details in this book, though one 
could otherwise readily admit the truth of many of 
them, and this, too, without supposing there was any 
thing of the miraculous in them. 

Many of the Papists, who affect to deny that the 
above cases have any resemblance to somnambulism, 
cannot certainly be ignorant of the fact, that one of 
their priests, named F. Girard, was tried in France, in 
1733, for the liberties he took with a female, whom he 
was in the habit of throwing into a state of trance. 
That female declared that Girard had bewitched her; 
and many of her feats, after being thrown into trance 
by Girard, were as remarkable as any thing done by the 
Tyrol Virgins. Nor was this all. This female had the 
true “ stigmata ” in her hands, side, feet, and forehead, 
and which, it is said, the Catholic priest manifested his 
adoration for, by applying his lips to the places in a 
peculiar manner, quite too often for his own credit. 

The case of a lady in Salem, Massachusetts, whom I 
saw in 1844, may be referred to, as exceeding the Tyrol 
Virgins in the miraculous. For eleven years she had 
not been noticed to sleep at all; and the various posi¬ 
tions into which she was thrown by convulsions, are 
said to be almost incredible. Sometimes she was eleva¬ 
ted from her bed, in an instant, perpendicularly; and at 


132 


PATHETISM. 


other times pinned to the wall, or made to spin like a 
top, without the least effort. 

The Senses. 

It does not seem to be definitely settled, among writ¬ 
ers on Mental Philosophy, as to with how many senses 
man is endowed. I have in my work on Human Nature 
attempted to show, that there are, strictly speaking, but 
three organs of external sense, corresponding with 
man’s triune nature, Feeling , Sight , and Hearing. 
Smell and Taste are Functions of Feeling. Dr. B. Rush 
wrote an Essay on “ The Moral Sense; ” and Whewell, 
in his Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, has argued 
the existence of a “ Muscular Sense,” which was taught 
also by Dr. T. Brown, of Edinburgh. But if the rea¬ 
soning be relied upon for deducing the existence of 
these separate Senses, I do not see why we may not go 
on and prove that man has as many separate senses as 
he has distinct mental Faculties. Man has the “ God¬ 
like ” Faculty of Reason, which distinguishes him above 
all other animals. But, is there a Sense of Reason? 
And if so, what is its distinct external organ? I do 
not suppose the “ Moral Sense ” to depend exclusively 
on one Faculty of the Mind. It is peculiar to man, as 
the sense of Righteousness or Justice is peculiar to him. 
But, the sense of Right, it seems to me, partakes, more 
or less, of the entire mental constitution. One may have 
what is denominated “Conscientiousness,” very large. 
But, if other Faculties (Reason, Benevolence, Acquis¬ 
itiveness) do not yield to the demands of Justice, his 
moral sense must be feeble in proportion to these cor¬ 
respondences. 

What we denominate the External Senses, depend on 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


133 


certain Physiological and Pathological conditions. If 
these conditions be changed, the senses are impaired, 
and may, each of them, be wholly suspended or de¬ 
stroyed. The sense of Feeling is suspended by Path- 
etism, or by chloroform; and the sense of Hearing and 
the Sight are suspended, and even wholly destroyed, by 
disease, as the sense of Feeling may be destroyed by 
disease, also. 

We have become accustomed to speak of “ the five 
senses,” not because there are five external senses, but 
rather because we have not yet properly understood the 
constitution of man’s nature. 

This view will the better enable us to see the beauti¬ 
ful correspondence between the Number and the Func¬ 
tion of the senses which have respect to the external 
world, and the senses of the Mixd, which correspond to 
Feeling, Hearing, and Sight. Thus, from the Love 
Element we have the Sense of Feeling, both physical 
and mental, and from the Wisdom Element we have 
Sight and Knowledge, whence comes Hearing, Under¬ 
standing, and Judgment. 

Contemplating the development of the senses after 
this Form, we may the more easily comprehend how it 
is that the Functions of the mind are separate and to be 
distinguished from those senses which adapt man to his 
-condition in this material world. We learn, moreover, 
how it is that a state of the mind automatically sus¬ 
pends the senses. Thus, in reverie , or when the mind is 
intensely fixed on Sight, the hearing is suspended; when 
fixed on hearing the sight is suspended ; and when fixed 
on sight and hearing, feeling is suspended. Intensity 
in one sense produces obtuseness in the others, which 
explains how it is that the mind is self-inducted and 
12 


134 


pathetism. 


rendered insensible to pain. In these cases, the sense 
of feeling is not annihilated, nor is it, often, so much 
susj)ended as it is diverted. The sight is diverted so 
that we do not see (notice) objects at the time, but 
afterwards we remember having seen them. We are 
spoken to, or hear sounds, that we do not notice at the 
time ; but afterwards we remember having heard them. 

Among the multitudes whom I have rendered insen¬ 
sible to pain while surgical operations were performed 
upon them, I have found numbers whom I could induce 
to remember the whole of the operation, although, at 
the time, they certainly appeared to be wholly uncon¬ 
scious ; and from which I infer that in the trance the 
senses are, generally, and perhaps always, diverted. 

In 1844, a Mr. Carey was entranced in Bangor, Maine, 
by Dr. Dean, while he had his thigh amputated without 
any consciousness of pain. Dr. Dean assured me that 
it required some eighty sittings, of about one hour 
each, to get Mr. Carey into a suitable state for the op¬ 
eration, which took nearly three fourths of an hour in 
its performance. The trance appeared to be profound 
and perfectly successful. About one year afterwards, I 
lectured in Bangor, when Mr. Carey attended, became 
entranced, and came upon the platform with others. 
At a favorable moment while he was entranced, I re¬ 
marked to him that I would cause him to remember 
all the particulars of the amputation of his limb. And 
he instantly commenced and gave a correct account of 
all that the attending surgeons said and did to him on 
that occasion! 

I have caused timid females, on my platform, in the 
presence of a thousand gazing at them at the time, to 
hold candles in each of their hands, without moving a 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


135 


muscle, while the dentist saw by the light of those can¬ 
dles to extract their teeth. Had a muscle moved during 
the surgical operation, the whole audience could have 
detected it instantly. And yet, although these excita¬ 
ble, timid persons manifested not the slightest sense of 
pain in those difficult operations, I have (in all cases 
that I tested) found that they knew as well as I did 
what was done to them at the time. Such are the 
mysteries in the exercise of the mental functions which 
act through the external senses. 

Self-Induction. 

We are accustomed to marvel in the contemplation 
of peculiar mental powers which certain men have ex¬ 
ercised over others. It is shown in Music, Sculpture, 
and Painting. It is felt on the field of battle, and ex¬ 
erted from the senate, the pulpit, and the forum. It 
sways and carries headlong large masses of people into 
extremes of fanaticism and folly. Thus of Moses, Mo¬ 
hammed, Alexander, and Bonaparte. The powers which 
these personages exerted over the minds of men have 
immortalized their names. 

It does not depend on goodness, justice, or integrity 
of character; and yet, where these elements are harmo¬ 
niously combined, they add vastly to human influence, 
as is manifest in the case of Jesus, Washington, and 
Franklin. At times, ignorant and even vicious persons 
acquire extraordinary power over others, as in the case 
of Joe Smith, the Mormon; and at other times, trivial, 
fortuitous circumstances invest obscure and ignorant 
women with an influence which astonishes the world, a3 
in the case of Joan of Arc and Ann Lee. 

Persons are known in every age, and among all 


130 


PATHETISM. 


classes of people, whose influence over others fills the 
mind with wonder. And yet, after all, we should say, 
perhaps, that the most marvellous of all the Faculties 
ever exhibited by the human intellect, and among all 
the powers that it is possible for man to exert, the most 
wonderful is that Power, which is inherent in all minds, 
of /Self-Induction , that Force, by which the mind en¬ 
trances and withdraws itself from the consciousness of 
pain. Sulphuric ether and chloroform bear no compar¬ 
ison, as ancesthetic agents, with this power of the human 
mind. Indeed, there is nothing like it; no other power 
known in the physical or mental world to be compared 
with this. 

Often, when certain persons inhale gas for the purpose 
of producing insensibility while perilous surgical opera¬ 
tions are performed upon them, the gas fails in one 
important result. I have seen patients manifest all the 
signs of pain while under the influence of chloroform, 
although sometimes they have no recollection of it after 
the operation is over. They suffer, it may be, from the 
effects of the gas, but not so in self-induction: in these 
cases, there is no sense, no knowledge, no memory of 
pain whatever. For the time being, the functions of 
the nerves of feeling are suspended; even death itself 
could not annihilate the sense of pain more effectually 
than it is done by one’s own mind. And, what perhaps 
will surprise the reader, is the fact that this inherent 
power of self entrancement, or self induction, which 
each one has over his own nervous system, is far greater 
than any drugs, or any power known under the name 
of “ Mesmerism,” or which the will of one man can 
exercise over another. Indeed, all the wills of all the 
millions of men in the universe, combined on one man, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


137 


could not exert so much power over his sense of pain, 
as that man’s own mind can exercise over himself. 
There is a secret power in each human being of self- 
control, a power of self-induction, which is greater than 
any other power, greater than can be exercised by any 
and all other minds, in the body or out. 

When lecturing in Philadelphia, in 1847, I rendered 
a number of persons insensible to pain while surgical 
operations were performed upon them, and in witnessing 
these operations, the editor of the Sun newspaper gave 
to Pathetism the name of “ Human Chloroform,” appro¬ 
priately enough, perhaps, as it is indeed an “operation 
under the influence of which your most cherished and 
deep-rooted prejudices are extirpated unconsciously to 
yourself.” And yet, what could Pathetism, what could 
Omnipotence itself do, except as it works by immutable, 
eternal laws, those laws which go before all results, and 
which make the human mind what it is, with all its sus¬ 
ceptibilities and powers ? And man’s own mind, thus 
constituted, possesses power over itself, power over one’s 
own nerves, far greater than any other mind could pos¬ 
sibly have over them. And for the possession of this 
power one mortal is never indebted to the will of an¬ 
other. It is not conferred by any “Professor,” “Lec¬ 
turer,” “ Doctor,” “ Medium,” or “ Spirit.” “ The king¬ 
dom of heaven is within you,” whether you believe it 
or not. True it is Pathetism may assist you in calling 
it into exercise, as it may, indeed, be aroused by a word, 
a look, or by any event which may by design or inci¬ 
dentally arrest your attention, and set this mighty Force 
in motion. And thus we may be assisted, even when 
we have no knowledge of any such power, for the help 
comes, often without any direct knowledge or volition 
12 * 


138 


PATHETISM. 


in any one. This power, I suppose to be the “ higher 
law,” the presiding principle in w’hat we denominate the 
Vis Medicatrix Naturae, — the Self-Healing Forces, — 
which always perform the cure, -whenever any cure is made. 
This power is in us, not outside but in the human mind. 
Witness its exhibition in the marvellous indifference 
with which the martyr endures his tortures. He walks 
with a bold and cheerful step to the stake, or to the scaf¬ 
fold, and takes no notice of the flames which devour his 
body. Nay, his flesh is lacerated with red hot pincers, 
and flayed from his body with the broadaxe, and yet 
he feels no pain. Timid women and children have been 
put to torture and the most cruel forms of death, while 
they have shown no sense of fear or pain. 

Soldiers engaged in battle are hewn and cut to pieces, 
they are mangled and mutilated in forms shocking to 
think of, and yet, such is the power of the human mind 
to withdraw itself entirely from all consciousness of 
pain, such is the influence of Fear, Hope, and Joy, 
when either of these emotions are excited in any one, 
to a certain degree the mind withdraws itself from pain, 
and in most cases far more effectually than when under 
the influence of ether or chloroform. 

The papers have recently (July, 1860) reported the 
case of a young girl in Baltimore, who was instantly 
struck blind, self-induced by this same power. She had 
been accused of some offence, and to clear herself, she 
called on “ God to strike her blind if she were guilty.” 
This silly imprecation excited her Fear, and immediate 
blindness followed. 

In a pamphlet I published on this subject in 1847,1 
gave an account of a young farmer in Warwickshire, 
England, who was affected in a similar manner. On 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


139 


finding his hedges broken, and the sticks carried away 
during a frosty season, determined to watch for the thief. 
He lay many cold hours under a haystack, and at length 
an old woman, like a witch in a play, approached, and 
began to pull up the hedge. He waited till she had tied 
her bundle of sticks, and was carrying them off, that he 
might convict her of theft, and then springing from his 
concealment, he seized his prey with violent threats. 
After some altercation, in which her load was left upon 
the ground, she kneeled upon the bundle of sticks, and 
raising her hands to Heaven, beneath the bright moon, 
then at the full, spoke to the farmer, already shivering 
with cold, “ Heaven grant that thou mayst never know 
again the blessing to be warm.” He complained of 
cold all the next day, and wore an upper coat, and in a 
few days another, and in a fortnight took to his bed, 
always saying nothing made him warm. He covered 
himself with very many blankets, and had a sieve over 
his face as he lay. From this one insane idea, he kept 
his bed above twenty years, for fear of the cold air, till 
at length he died. 

Cases are on record where immediate death has fol¬ 
lowed from the principle we are now considering. So 
of the criminal condemned to die, upon whom the phy¬ 
sicians were permitted to experiment. He was blind¬ 
folded, and when they pricked his arm to induce him to 
believe a vein was thus opened, a small stream of water 
was set to running, which he supposed to be his blood. 
The pulse corresponded with his state of mind, sinking 
and becoming more and more feeble, until it ceased to 
beat, and the man was dead. By this same principle 
people have been frightened to death, frightened into 
sectarianism, and frightened into disease. Thus the 


140 


PATHETISM. 


hair is said sometimes to be turned white in the course 
of a short time. A man caught hold of a shrub, and 
saved himself from instant death, as he fell over a dan¬ 
gerous precipice. Having to remain in that perilous 
condition during the night, in the morning when found 
his hair had turned from black to gray. Diseases, such 
as the Asiatic cholera, spread by these laws and become 
epidemic, only because of these plastic susceptibilities 
of the human mind. 

In the Boston Herald, of July 20, 1860, the case of a 
young girl in Cincinnati is reported, who was thus re¬ 
stored to sight from a state of total blindness. She was 
engaged to be married, but on becoming blind, she, for 
a long time, refused to bestow her hand upon a worthy 
young man who sincerely loved her. Medical skill was 
employed in vain, and for a long time the youth per¬ 
sisted in his suit, and at length made her believe that 
life with her, even if she were wholly blind, were better 
than a paradise where she was not. 

Finally, after much importunity, her resolution was 
rescinded, and she became his wife; and, strange as it 
may seem, from that day her eyesight began to improve, 
and she is now able to read the finest print by gas light, 
without pain and without any apparent optical injury. 
Such was the influence of her own mind over her ner¬ 
vous system, by which its susceptibilities were excited, 
and the visual organs thus put in a plastic condition 
favorable for the self-healing energies of her vital sys¬ 
tem to work upon, and thus her sight was restored. 

The same paper reports the case of a man near Roch¬ 
ester, New York, who, it is said, was charmed by a 
snake. Mr. Northrop, and several friends connected 
with the Central Road, were examining the bridges on 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


141 


the road to ascertain whether they were safe or not. 
The whole party passed under a bridge, on one of the 
abutments of which a bird had built her nest. A large 
black snake lay on the stones, opposite the nest, charm¬ 
ing the birds, and when Mr. Northrop passed between 
the snake and the birds, the charm was so strong that 
the moment he caught sight of the snake he stopped 
involuntarily, and stood perfectly motionless, until his 
friends, discovering his position, approached and killed 
the reptile, and relieved both Mr. Northrop and the 
birds from their-unpleasant predicament. 

All there is real in the numerous accounts published 
of birds said to have been “charmed” by snakes, is 
easily accounted for, when we learn the power which 
the sense of fear exercises over the nervous system of 
all animals as well as men. The notion that some ma¬ 
terial fluid passes from the serpent into the bird, I con¬ 
ceive to be entirely erroneous. The charm is from the 
sense of fear , and the above account of Mr. Northrop 
shows that he was self-inducted, charmed by his own 
sense of danger , when his own eye “ caught a sight of 
the snake.” 

The case of a young lady was reported some years 
since, who fell over a frightful precipice at Niagara. 
She stretched herself out upon the edge of the dark 
chasm to gather wild flowers, and, as her “ eye caught 
sight” of the fearful depths that yawned in the dis¬ 
tance, her brain grew dizzy; she was fascinated by the 
sense of danger, and thus overcome, self-inducted, she 
threw herself into the jaws of death, and was dashed 
to pieces upon the rocks below. Similar stories are 
told of persons who have ascended high towers. On 
binding themselves at such giddy heights, the mind is 


142 


PATHETISM. 


palsied with a sense of danger, and thus, self-inducted, 
they become the victims of their own fears, and, uncon¬ 
scious of what they do, leap into the arms of death, 
overcome entirely by the danger which their own minds 
have created. 

The sense of danger, however, does not necessarily 
affect all temperaments in this manner. On some 
minds, it has an effect directly the reverse; it seems to 
take away all concern, and make the mind indifferent 
and stoical, until it becomes reckless and utterly devoid 
of fear. 

My own observations have tended to convince me 
that the fear of death depends very much upon our 
temperament or physical organization. Many persons 
I have known have dreaded death in despite of their 
religious notions, while others have met death with a 
smile who had no faith in religion at all. 

The state of the mind, or the views we take of Na¬ 
ture and the constitution of things, must have much to 
do in determining the feelings we may have of death. 
And these views are modified by the elements that 
enter into the composition of the physical system. 

I have, at different times, had death so near, that I 
know what it is to realize it. And I suppose that I 
have myself as much instinctive horror of death as most 
other people. But, at the same time, from my own 
experience, I believe that the sufferings in view of im¬ 
mediate death arise from a conflict in the mind between 
hope and fear. When a lad, I was driven out to sea in 
a skiff, and while struggling against the tide and a 
severe gale, I was in horrible distress, but on yielding 
up my hope and my fear, and submitting my mind to 
the fate that awaited me, my distress was gone at once. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


143 


And so, when skating many years ago, on a river near a 
dam some thirty feet high, over which the water ran 
with great force. The ice had been cut out in the form 
of a triangle by the boys, to see its passage down on 
the rocks below. The corner of the triangular space 
extended up farther than I expected, and, in attempting 
to cross over to the boys on the other side, I fell in, of 
course. I caught hold of the ice, and held on with my 
finger nails, while the water ran with such force that it 
drew my feet out towards the dam. In that position I 
remained long enough to submit to my fear of instant 
death, and feel composed in its contemplation. 

In the year 1834, I anticipated sudden death from 
having ignorantly taken a very large quantity of cam¬ 
phor, — enough, as the physician said, to have killed 
two men. On ascertaining my danger, I went out into 
the fields, and by violent exercise and a strong mental 
effort, I overcame the effects of the drug, and suffered 
no inconvenience from it. This was self-induction. 

, The accounts published of that terrible calamity 
which occurred at Lawrence, Massachusetts, in January, 
1860, represented that some of the victims, imprisoned 
amidst the fallen ruins, from which they could not be 
extricated, broke out in hymns of joy when they saw 
the ruins on fire and their destruction certain. Aban¬ 
doning hope and fear together, they submitted them¬ 
selves to their inevitable doom, and thus their sufferings 
ceased even before they ceased to live. 

It is well known to medical men, that in sickness, the 
delicate fastidiousness of the patient often interferes 
with the operation of medicine, and frequently great 
anxiety for the peculiar operation of a remedy prevents 
its action. In fever, the symptoms increase in intensity 


144 


PATHETISM. 


by the most ordinary excitement of the mind. What¬ 
ever partakes of the mysterious will often exert a 
powerful influence upon certain temperaments. Hence, 
a prescription, made by a reputed “ clairvoyant,” will 
prove effectual, solely from the faith of the patient. Or, 
if the nostrum be prepared under “ spirit direction,” it 
acquires wonderful power, and succeeds with those who 
have faith in “spirits.” The lives of many are saved 
by the faith and the confidence which are exercised in 
the skill of the attending physician. Nor can there be 
any reasonable doubt but that the faith of the patient, 
in a vast majority of cases, does far more good than all 
the medicines that are swallowed. When the body is 
weakened by disease, and the powers of life are almost 
stilled, a sudden excitement of the mind will give re¬ 
newed vigor to the wasted frame, cause the blood to 
course more freely through the veins, and bestow the 
physical energy of health upon a system suffering pre¬ 
viously from the debility of disease. We have an illus¬ 
tration of this in Henry IY. The Duke of Northum¬ 
berland, having heard of the death of his son Hotspur 
while on his sick bed, thus speaks: — 

“ And as the wretch, whose fever-weakened joints, 

Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life, 

Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire 

Out of his keeper’s arms, — even so my limbs, 

Weakened with grief, being now enraged with grief, 

Are thrice themselves. Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch! 

A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, 

Must glove this hand ; and hence, thou sickly quoif! ” 

Haller quotes a case of gout cured by a fit of anger. 
The severest toothache not unfrequently departs, on the 
approach of a dentist armed with a pair of forceps. 
The most whimsical remedies have proved efficacious in 
cramp; and many other diseases have been unable to 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


145 


resist a necklace of toads, rings of coffin nails, and such 
epicurean niceties as gladiator’s blood, raw liver, and 
vulture’s brains. Intermittent fevers have been cured 
by the swallowing of live spiders, of the snuff of the 
candle, and by charms of various contrivances. One 
man with diarrhoea I know, who was cured by eating a 
piece of paper on which his prescription was written. 

Not long since, a case was reported in the New 
Bedford (Massachusetts) papers, which proves, clearly 
enough, that faith is stronger than physic. The fol¬ 
lowing is the substance of the story, the essential facts 
having been derived from the lady herself: 

Miss Louisa James, a young lady of twenty-one years, 
the daughter of widow Mary Mitchell, of Fairhaven, 
had been ill for the greater part of a year past, and for 
the last four months had been confined to her bed. 
The physicians pronounced her disease one of the heart 
and lungs, and though the best of medical aid was 
procured, she continued to fail rapidly, until at last it 
was announced that human skill could do nothing more 
for her. For the last two months she lost all control 
of her lower limbs, and it was with the greatest diffi¬ 
culty that she could be moved. She was reduced so 
low that her stomach refused the slightest nourishment. 

On Wednesday, the 8th ult., a female friend visited 
her, and in the course of a conversation, remarked that 
the Rev. Joseph K. Bellows, of New York, of the Sec¬ 
ond Advent persuasion — to which the invalid belonged 
— was in town. Miss James desired to see him, and in 
the evening he called at her residence. She felt that, 
should the reverend gentleman pray for her, she should 
recover; and after a short conversation, she made such 
a request. The clergyman and the mother of the 
13 


146 


PATHETISM. 


invalid knelt down, and a fervent and earnest prayer 
was offered up in her behalf. The mother says that 
before the minister prayed, the body of her daughter 
was cold as marble, and at the close of the exhortation 
she perspired freely. Miss James describes her sensa¬ 
tions during the prayer as similar to those of a person 
receiving a galvanic shock. That night she passed com¬ 
fortably, and in the morning arose and dressed herself 
without assistance, and on the following Sabbath at¬ 
tended church. She is now enjoying the best of health, 
and relishes the heartiest food. 

Observe, now, how differently different classes of 
people interpret events of this kind. Among the pa¬ 
pists, the cure is performed by “ relics,” or by touching 
a piece of bone, which the patient is made to believe, 
once belonged to some famous saint. Among “ spirit¬ 
ists,” the cure is performed by the “influence” of a 
“departed spirit;” or among sectarians who have a 
notion that the “Unchangeable” does change his pur¬ 
poses “ in answer to prayer,” these things are attributed 
to the “Holy Spirit.” Among Mesmerists, they are 
attributed to the “power of the will,” in the operator, 
exerted over the patient. When the patient happens 
to fall into the hands of one of the “ pill men,” whose 
“ name is legion,” then the account is published in the 
form of “a certificate of cure” of some wonderful 
“new medical discovery.” Many such cases have I 
witnessed during the past forty years, and sure I am 
that faith heals far more than the medicines that are 
taken. It was never more true than now, “ According 
to your faith it shall be unto you.” 

Here is a case, which I find (1860) recently reported 
in the papers. Mr. Willard, a blacksmith, living in 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


147 


Ohio, at Cherry-tree Corners, about five miles from 
Vermilion, some four years ago (1860) had been in¬ 
jured and rendered lame by the kick of a horse he was 
shoeing. Since that time, he had been unable to walk 
a step, or even to leave his chair without assistance. 
Two months previous to his cure, he had a dream, or 
vision, directing him to be baptized by immersion, at a 
time and place designated, if he desired to be cured of 
his malady. He stated the circumstance to his family 
and neighbors, declaring his determination to strictly 
comply with the requirements of his vision. He ex¬ 
pressed the utmost confidence in his restoration. 

The affair created considerable excitement in the 
neighborhood, and became the principal topic of con¬ 
versation for miles around. On the appointed day, the 
22d of March, several hundred people gathered at a 
point on Chapel Creek, where the ceremony was to take 
place. The blacksmith arrived punctual to the hour, 
and was taken from his carriage to the bank of the 
stream. Two clergymen were present, but both refused 
to officiate, having no confidence in the so-called vision 
of the blacksmith. Two acquaintances of Willard ex¬ 
pressed their willingness to assist in the solemn rite, 
and taking the sick man in their arms they walked into 
the water. He was immersed in the usual manner, and 
when he arose to his feet, he cried in a loud voice, 
“ Glory to God! I told you so! I told you it would 
cure me! All that was required was faith! ” &c. Mr. 
Willard then walked unattended from the water, and 
received the hearty congratulations of the multitude 
who crowded around*him. He walked to his carriage 
with ease and elasticity, and to all appearance his lame¬ 
ness was entirely cured. 


148 


PATHETISM. 


While giving lectures in Tremont Temple, Boston, in 
February, 1846, I was applied to by Capt. H. H. Wat¬ 
son, then employed at the Navy Yard, in Charlestown, 
to render his daughter, Mrs. Agnes Nichols, insensible, 
while a cancer might be cut from her breast. She had 
been under medical treatment for that tumor eighteen 
months, was twenty-three years of age, and weighed 
about one hundred and eighty pounds. The tumor had 
been examined by a number of the best physicians in 
the vicinity, and their opinions were unanimous that it 
should be removed by the knife. It caused her consid¬ 
erable pain, and was embedded, the doctors informed 
her, an inch or so below the surface. Her attending 
physician was the lamented Dr. J. B. Walker, a skilful 
surgeon. Before deciding finally upon its removal by 
the scalpel, he prescribed for her, and put on a plaster, 
but removed it the next day, as he found her symptoms 
aggravated. 

As I was engaged with my public lectures, I con¬ 
sented to attempt her assistance on two conditions 
only. One was, that she should attend my lectures, for 
the purpose of becoming entranced; and the other was, 
that if the experiment were successful, then Captain 
Watson should publish an account of it, to which the 
consent of parties was given. 

In the course of three weeks, I found Mrs. Nichols 
sufficiently under the influence of Pathetism to justify 
the hope that I should be able to carry her through the 
perils of the operation, which that excellent lady will 
bear me witness she dreaded nearly as much as she 
dreaded death. But I should remark here, that during 
the whole process of all I did for her, I never once saw 
or touched the surface where the cancer was located. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


149 


I did not even once pass my hand, purposely, over it; 
indeed, neither she nor myself spoke of the tumor, or 
scarcely, perhaps, thought of it, from the hour I com¬ 
menced with her until the close. 

Having matured my part of the work, the time was 
agreed upon (unknown to the patient) for the surgical 
operation to be performed, which was Sunday, Feb¬ 
ruary 22, 1846, at ten A. M., No. —, Salem Street, 
Charlestown, Massachusetts. I had had previous in¬ 
structions from Dr. Walker to place the patient in bed 
on her back, 'With the left arm extended over her head. 

The night previous was spent in sleepless anxiety by 
her family, and when the hour arrived, they could not 
be induced to be present in her chamber where the op¬ 
eration was to be performed. I had engaged with Mrs. 
Nichols to give her a sitting at the hour appointed, and 
am sure that she had not the remotest thought that we 
had arranged for the attendance of the surgeon that 
day. I went to her room accompanied only by Mary 
Jane Mason, to whose remarkable clairvoyant powers I 
have elsewhere alluded in these pages, and from her 
presence I was very much assisted in adjusting the posi¬ 
tion of my patient. At the appointed moment, I had 
Mrs. Nichols spell-bound in the position directed by the 
surgeon. Her whole muscular system was in a state of 
cold rigidity resembling the sleep of death. Four sur¬ 
geons were waiting below, and now, upon notice which 
I gave them that all was ready, they came up into the 
room where the patient was entranced. They instantly 
spread their surgical instruments upon the table, which 
was supplied with water, sponges, and all the implements 
necessary on such occasions. 

The first thing Dr. Walker did was to search for 
13 * 


150 


PATHETISM. 


the location of the cancer. After manipulating for 
some minutes, he turned to the surgeon who stood 
nearest to him, and said, “ The bounds of the tumor do 
not seem to be well defined.” He then left, and the 
second surgeon tried to find a tumor; but in a few 
moments he gave it up, and was succeeded by the third 
and the fourth. Then Dr. Walker examined the patient 
once more, and began to look somewhat embarrassed. 
Each one of the surgeons now examined the patient 
over again, and twenty minutes more they spent in 
searching for the tumor, for which one of them had 
been treating that same lady for a year and a half. The 
surgeons now left the patient, and, putting their heads 
together in a corner of the room, they whispered some¬ 
thing I could not hear; when Dr. Walker said to me, 
“We have concluded it not best to operate.” I asked 
him, “Why not?” and he replied, “We do not find 
that there is any tumor there! ” With this statement, 
the sticking plaster, the scalpel, and other instruments 
disappeared, and now my attention was given to the 
restoration of my patient. Mary Jane covered her per¬ 
son, while I called the family to witness her restoration 
from the trance. And bathed in tears, and in a state 
of mind which may be imagined, not described, her 
husband, and her father, mother, and sister, approached 
the bed where she was prostrated as in the embrace of 
death, supposing that the tumor had actually been re¬ 
moved by the knife of the surgeon! But the sheet was 
removed, and the form of the wife, the daughter and 
sister lay before their astonished eyes untouched by the 
surgeon’s knife; there were no signs of blood visible; 
and now it w r as I announced to them, upon the author¬ 
ity of the attending surgeons, that there was no cancer 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


151 


to be removed! During the few days she had been 
Pathetized, the tumor and the pain had disappeared as 
by magic, and, as they have been gone now for fourteen 
years, the presumption is that she may be considered 
cured. Since that time she has become the happy 
mother of three children, and at this writing she enjoys 
excellent health, which it is to be hoped may be con¬ 
tinued without interruption, either by pain or tumors, 
for many years to come. 

I give this as a remarkable case of self-induction, and 
the self-healing energies of the human organism, de¬ 
monstrating the truth of the theory advocated in these 
pages. Up to the hour when I commenced with this 
lady there was a tumor in her left breast as big, the 
doctors said, or bigger, than a hen’s egg. She had suf¬ 
fered from the “ darting pains ” for a long time, and had 
been under medical treatment for relief. But the pain 
ceased immediately, as she came under the influence of 
Pathetism, and in less than three weeks the tumor was 
gone, and could not be found! Now, what removed it? 
It was not the direct volition of any one; I did not 
“ will ” it, nor was such a result willed or anticipated by 
my patient. My own opinion is, that the nervous sys¬ 
tem of Mrs. Nichols was, by Pathetism, put in a plastic 
and favorable condition, by which Nutrition was as¬ 
sisted, and thus, through the functions of ingestion and 
assimilation, the tumor was absorbed and ejected from 
the system, — a work which the Vital Forces always 
perform where it is needful and the conditions of the 
organism are favorable for such a result. Volumes 
might be filled with accounts of similar cases. Such is 
the power of Faith and Hope over one’s own nervous 
system, and by which the Principle of Self-Induction 


152 


PATHETISM. 


here contended for is demonstrated. This Principle 
accounts for the “ miracles of healing ” which have oc¬ 
curred in all ages, no matter what the remote or sug¬ 
gestive cause may have been. With one it is “ God,” 
with another, “ Spirit,” and with another it may be 
“ pills,” “ powders,” “ roots and herbs,” or some patent 
nostrum, which has the credit of the cure. But an in¬ 
fluence so important as that we are now considering is 
not a matter to be either ridiculed or denied. Man has 
the organs, the faculties of Faith and Hope; they are 
constituent elements in his nature, without his knowl¬ 
edge or consent. Thus the human mind is made. It 
becomes us, therefore, to examine man as we find him, 
to take things as they are, and account for them ac¬ 
cordingly. In this way we become wiser by studying 
the phenomena we witness, and thus are enabled to turn 
to good uses those susceptibilities and powers of the 
human mind, by which results so extraordinary are 
brought about. The processes used may seem exceed¬ 
ingly simple, and wholly inadequate. “Faith,” and 
“ prayer,” a touch of the hand, a word, a movement as 
simple as the falling of a leaf, may serve as the suggest¬ 
ive cause which sets in motion that mysterious power 
of self-entrancement, of self-healing, which among all 
people, and in all ages, has wrought miracles and been 
the wonder of the masses, while it has served as “ a 
stumbling-stone ” and a “ rock of offence ” to such as 
have been too proud to learn, too wise to understand, 
the mystery of their own being. 

The following case of self-induction is instructive, 
inasmuch as it explains what is real in the sectarian 
notions of “backsliding.” The old woman was, un¬ 
questionably, “saved by her faith” in the remedy; and 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


153 


so, when she discovered the deception practised upon 
her incredulity, it was to be expected that she would 
“backslide,” and relapse into her former state again, 
w r hich, we are told, is “ worse than the first,” as it is like 
the “sow that was washed,” which returned to its 
“ wallowing in the mire.” The story is told of a woman 
in the work-house at Yeovil, England, who had long 
been a cripple, and unable to walk without her crutches. 
In 1751, the waters of Glastenbury had become famous 
for their “healing powers,” and this old woman ex¬ 
pressed a strong desire to drink of them, believing that 
her cure would be certain if she could only taste of the 
Glastenbury waters. And so the master of the work- 
house procured several bottles of water from an ordi¬ 
nary brook, which he presented to her as from Glasten- 
bury. The old woman swallowed them without delay, 
and was soon cured. She threw away her crutches like 
another cripple we read of, and her cure was pronounced 
“ miraculous.” 

However, the cure did not last long, for the master 
of the work-house thought it a joke too good to keep, 
and so he disclosed the deception he had practised upon 
her. This of course “ broke the spell,” and the poor old 
woman relapsed into her former infirmities, in which 
she again found a use for her crutches. 

Benevolence ought to have kept that deception a 
profound secret. In that case, the cure would have 
been radical and permanent. The cure was real, what¬ 
ever may have been the means for bringing it about. 
And so is the joy real wiiich is felt when one is “con¬ 
verted,” from the fear of an imaginary hell and that old 
boss devil. Faith is a reality; the states of the mind 
resulting from Faith, Fear, and Hope are realities, and 


154 


PATHETISM. 


realities to be pondered by the philosopher who would 
comprehend the laws of mind, by which these states 
are brought about. 

The principal element concerned in the spread of the 
witchcraft mania, is Fear. By this all-powerful emo¬ 
tion, the minds of ignorant people become self-induced\ 
and utterly incapable of forming a correct judgment of 
what they say or do. The thoughts become crystallized 
in actions. The belief is acted out always. Such is the 
constitution of the human mind. This susceptibility 
forms the soil in which all mental epidemics flourish. 
“ Revivals,” “ witchcraft,” “ the preaching epidemic ” in 
Sweden, “ Mormonism,” “ Spiritism,” and panics spread 
and prevail by similar Psychological principles. What 
more likely to wake up this plastic susceptibility in the 
human mind, than for an ignorant, credulous person to 
be charged with witchcraft! The bare suspicion of 
such a crime paralyzes the judgment, and incapacitates 
its victim for a successful defence. His plastic nature 
yields to the outside pressure, and he is thus self-con¬ 
victed, even when he kpows his own innocence. I 
have, a number of times, had confessions of crimes vol¬ 
untarily made to me by invalids, of which I had the 
means of knowing they were not guilty. And w T hen 
the mind has been so perverted by a sectarian educa¬ 
tion, as to falsely charge itself with having committed 
the greatest of all crimes, it is sufficient to show those 
extremes of self-induction into which it may be some¬ 
times carried by external influences that are often ex¬ 
ercised over it. 

A man was arrested in Nashua, New Hampshire, in 
1847, and bound over for trial, on a charge of an in¬ 
famous and penal offence. The witness was a youth of 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


155 


seventeen. On hearing the circumstances of the case, 
I took some pains to see him alone, when he confessed 
to me that every word lie had uttered under oath in 
that case w*as false. On seeing him, I noticed his tem¬ 
perament, and suspected how it was that he came to 
report such a story about innocent persons; when the 
youth was very much surprised at what I repeated to 
him, and finally owned up that he was led into it step 
by step, precisely as I had conjectured. 

A case is described by Dr. Darwin, of a young man 
full of desire to see his female friend whom he loved, 
and, to gratify this desire, he walked in one day a dis¬ 
tance of fifty-five miles. Having arrived at her resi¬ 
dence, he found her in attendance at a ball near by, and 
to which place he repaired without delay. Here were 
new “influences” for the self-induction of that state 
which enabled him to endure his journey without any 
sense of fatigue. He found his lady-love dressed in 
gay attire, and the music, the friends, and hilarities of 
the occasion made him forget the long walk he had 
taken, and, as though nothing had happened to him, he 
immediately joined in the dance, which he continued, 
without any sense of exhaustion, until late at night. 

Such is the nature of self-induction, and the power 
which an Idea exerts over the vital Forces. Had that 
young man been compelled to walk fifty miles, without 
any object, and then by the fear of the whip been 
forced to go through with precisely the same “poetry 
of motion ” which he did with the girl he loved, he 
would undoubtedly have sunk, and might have died 
under such treatment. 

And this principle of self-induction obtains, from 
childhood to old age, and it sustains us, in all the cares 


156 


PATHETISM. 


and labors of life. Take the case of a child for a single 
day, in its walks, its play, and all its motions, the whole 
of which are gone through with without fatigue, be¬ 
cause the mind of the child is self-inducted, that is, 
sufficiently attracted by the hope of pleasure in what it 
does voluntarily. But, undertake to compel that child 
to do the same things against its wishes, and see if you 
can succeed. Or, undertake yourself to imitate that 
child for one day in all its words and motions, and you 
will find out what is meant by the terms attraction , 
magnetism, and self-induction. A boy with his kite 
will exert all the powers of his muscular system for 
hours, without fatigue; but compel him to perform a 
similar amount of labor against his wishes, and he be¬ 
comes tired in a few moments. The human mind is 
more powerful over the sense of pain , than chloroform, 
or sulphuric ether; because it acts quicker, and with 
far more safety. 

A clergyman once showed me the scar of a bullet 
hole made through his hand. He was a soldier, and 
engaged in a battle in the war of 1812. After the con¬ 
flict was over, the first notice he had of his wound was 
a sense of smarting in his hand, when, upon examina¬ 
tion, he first discovered that a musket ball had been 
shot through it. His mind was self-inducted by the 
“ influence ” of the battle. 

In a course of lectures in Great Falls, New Hamp¬ 
shire, (1844,) while explaining this same principle, the 
following illustrative and convincing incidents occurred. 
A Mr. Owen Davis, about twenty-five years of age, and 
weighing some one hundred and fifty pounds, attended 
one night, under the following circumstances. He was 
a decided sceptic in respect to any “ influence ” which 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


157 


Pathetism could exert over him, and being challenged 
by some of his comrades, he offered to bet with them 
that the lecturer could not affect him. He was an utter 
stranger to me, nor did I know that he was in the 
house, until I found him under the spell. As he was 
evidently impressed, and before I had spoken to him or 
touched him, his comrades, who had watched the state 
of his case, undertook to annoy him, 'when he suddenly 
aroused himself, and rushed down the aisle with such 
force that he broke off the pew doors, and overpowered 
five men who attempted to hold him. Quite a melee 
ensued, and lasted until Mr. Davis had cleared his way 
as far as the vestibule of the church, when, for the first 
time, I got near enough to touch him; and, the instant 
I put my hand on his head, he became perfectly calm, 
and returned with me to the platform. After the ex¬ 
citement was over, Dr. Berry, one of the party who had 
seized and attempted to control Mr. Davis, came for¬ 
ward and exhibited to the audience a large fissure made 
in his own neck, by the finger nails of the somnambu¬ 
list. He was badly cut, and bled profusely, but de¬ 
clared that he did not notice when or how he had been 
hurt; and he alluded to the fact as a striking confirma¬ 
tion of the Theory of Pathetism, which the lecture 
that evening was designed to explain. 

When lecturing in Marblehead, (1844,) a man called 
on me who had but one foot, and gave me the following 
account of himself. He said he was a ship carpenter, 
and had his foot taken off by a chain cable while 
launching a ship, and it was done so suddenly, while 
watching the motion of the ship, that he did not notice 
it at all. He happened to step into a coil of the huge 
chain attached to the ship, and did not know that it 
14 


158 


PATHETISM. 


had taken his foot off, until he attempted to walk, and 
fell upon the ground ! Here was a surgical operation 
performed, without any consciousness of pain, and the 
“ unconscious state ” was brought on by the man’s own 
mind, which is what I denominate self-induction. This 
case is one of a large class, and it shows what power 
the human mind must have over one’s own nervous 
system, when the attention may be so much excited, 
through the sense of sight, that we have no conscious¬ 
ness of pain, even from a violent mutilation of the body 
as shocking as that here described. 

A dentist, Dr. H., was sent for to extract a tooth, 
while the patient was under the influence of chloroform. 
The doctor took his apparatus, and applying the sponge 
as usual to the mouth and nostrils of the patient, found 
he was soon in an “ unconscious state,” when he drew 
the tooth. The patient was restored in the usual man¬ 
ner, and declared that he did not know when his tooth 
was drawn. Nor did the doctor afterwards inform him 
that the sponge through which he had “ inhaled ” was 
perfectly dry. There was not one particle of gas in it! 
But the patient thought there was gas in the sponge, 
and that thought inducted his nervous system as really 
as chloroform could have done it; and so will the 
thought of “ spirits,” or of “ od” or “ animal magnetism,” 
induce the trance, and insensibility to pain. 

A lady patient of mine, whom I had entranced a 
year or so before, applied to me to render her uncon¬ 
scious of pain while she should have a number of her 
teeth extracted. The time and the dentist were agreed 
upon. When I arrived at the office, she was waiting, 
and I happened to pass by and stand behind her, while 
my mind was wholly engaged in reading a newspaper. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


159 


On laying the paper down, I found that the lady had 
passed into the trance, and her teeth were drawn with¬ 
out any trouble. When restored, she had no recollec¬ 
tion of any pain, but she did well remember the 
“influence” of my “will,” which she supposed I had 
exerted over her while standing behind her chair. 

The following case occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, 
February 21, 1844, during my first course of lectures in 
that city. Happening to be in the office of a dentist, 
(Dr. Fisk,) Mr. B., the editor of one of the city papers, 
came in to have a molar drawn. He had never been 
Pathetized. On seating himself in the chair, he turned 
an imploring look to me, and said, “ Do assist me, if you 
please.” I replied, “ I will do so, sir, all I can,” and 
simply placed my hand on his head, when the doctor 
drew his tooth, which required the usual outlay of 
strength. Mr. B. never moved a muscle, and with his 
eyes open, we paused for a few seconds, when he said to 
the dentist, “ Come, go ahead, and out with it! ” The 
dentist smiled, and then placed the forceps holding the 
extracted tooth before the astonished eyes of Mr. B., 
who declared that he was not hurt at all, and had not 
noticed when his tooth was drawn. The mind of this 
gentleman had been prepared for self-induction by wit¬ 
nessing cases of tooth drawing which had been per¬ 
formed in my lecture the night before. 

In such cases, the mind is diverted, and thus pre¬ 
vented from taking cognizance of the violence which 
the surgical operation does to the nervous system. I 
have in many cases assisted people thus to endure the 
operation of tooth drawing. A young lady attended 
my lectures in Hew Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1845, 
who could not be put into an unconscious state of trance; 


160 


Pathetism. 


but I found it easy to impress her mind with hallucina¬ 
tions ; and in this state one of her teeth was drawn 
without pain. I excited her combativeness, and made 
her believe an enemy was attempting to annoy her; 
and so, to be avenged on her adversary, she allowed the 
dentist to draw her tooth. 

A timid lady in Lowell had a bad great toe, from 
which it was necessary to amputate the whole of the 
nail. I hallucinated her into the belief that she was 
attending a Methodist camp meeting, where she was 
exceedingly diverted with the “exercises,” and during 
her diversion, Dr. Josiah Curtis thrust his scissors under 
the nail, and cut it open, and then, with his forceps, 
seized each part, and tore it “ out by the roots.” The 
lady was laughing and talking all the -while, and when 
restored to her normal state, seemed very much sur¬ 
prised to find the ugly toe nail had disappeared and gone. 

A lad some eight years old was sent to the dentist’s 
office with a quarter, to get his tooth drawn. He ap¬ 
proached the dentist, with his eye on the silver in his 
hand, and said, “ How much do you ask to draw my 
tooth?” The dentist, wishing to try an experiment, 
replied, that “ if it hurt, he charged a quarter, but if he 
drew the tooth without hurting, he did not ask any 
thing.” With this, the little fellow’s eyes brightened, 
and he took the chair instantly, and his tooth was 
drawn. The dentist then asked him “ if he was hurt.” 
“Not a bit,” said the little boy, squeezing the money 
into his pocket, when he made for the door in quick time. 

My oldest daughter could never endure the sight of 
blood, or the thoughts of the dentist’s forceps. She 
was so exceedingly sensitive in this respect, as to be 
unable to remain in the house where a tooth was to be 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


161 


drawn. When lecturing in Philadelphia in 1848, I 
succeeded in drawing one of her molars in the follow¬ 
ing manner. Having explained the whole affair to Dr. 
Johnson, the dentist, so that he knew what assistance I 
wanted, we were passing his office one day, and I pro¬ 
posed to my daughter that we should go in and allow 
the doctor to examine her bad tooth, assuring her that 
no attempt should be made for drawing it, unless she 
desired it. We went in, and seating herself in the 
chair, the doctor examined the tooth, and saw what was 
to be done. As he turned away and left her, I whis¬ 
pered in her ear, “Now, darling, let the doctor take out 
that tooth, and on Friday night you shall have a public 
benefit, and I will make you a present of a beautiful 
gold watch! ” Her mouth opened, and the doctor, in 
less time than it takes to tell the story, had her tooth in 
his forceps on the table. She never moved a muscle, 
and showed no signs of fear. All was silent and still 
for a few seconds, when she made an effort to clear her 
mouth, and, seeing the blood, she became frantic, and 
made all those expressions significant of excruciating 
pain, that are common to sensitive persons while under 
the surgeon’s knife. 

Having myself been present, and assisted in a very 
large number of surgical operations, I do not now re¬ 
member one case where I have not noticed attempts 
made by the patient (when not entranced) to divert his 
own mind; thus instinctively do we all resort to this 
inherent principle of self-induction. We “ whistle to 
keep the courage up; ” we sing, we talk, we laugh, we 
do many things unconsciously to ourselves, by which to 
cheat ourselves, and divert the mind from the conscious¬ 
ness of pain. 


14 * 


162 


PATHETISM. 


Such are the susceptibilities of the nervous system, 
and such the powers which one’s own mind exerts over 
them. This Principle of self-induction is in constant 
operation in and upon us. How else is it that events 
transpire before your eyes daily that you do not see, 
sounds are made near to you that you do not hear, and 
you are often touched when you do not feel. The 
clock ticks, and strikes the hours, but you do not hear 
it, until, some time afterwards, it may be, you remember 
even what you did not hear (or hearing, you did not 
notice) at the time. In this manner, each of our ex¬ 
ternal senses is suspended every day, and any number 
of times during the day. We cease, for the time being, 
to hear, see, and feel, for the reason that our minds are 
self-inducted, entranced, diverted, by some other object. 
When the thinking forces are all employed in watching 
the motions of the huge ship which is being launched, 
the sense of feeling is not in the leg while it is being 
jerked off by the chain cable. 

Imagination. 

It may be well, perhaps, to devote a little time to the 
consideration of those functions and states of mind 
which have given rise to this and kindred terms. W« 
are told that fancy , considered as a power, simply 
brings an object to the mind and makes it appear, from 
the Latin phantasia , or the Greek plxantasie , and pha - 
mo, to appear. But imagination, from image, in Latin 
in<ago, imitago, or imitatio, is a power which presents 
the images or the likenesses of things. Fancy employs 
itself about things without respect to their nature; 
imagination aims at tracing a correct resemblance: — 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


163 


“ And as imagination bodies forth 
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen 
Turns them to shape.” — Shakespeare. 

“ There was a certain lady of thin, airy shape, who was very active in 
this solemnity; her name was Fancy.'” — Addison. 

“ Philosophy! I say and call it He ; 

For whatsoever the painter’s fancy be, 

It a male vesture seems to me.” — Cowley. 

Fancy is employed on trivial subjects, but the imagi¬ 
nation is supposed to act in harmony with the normal 
exercise of all the other mental functions. The term 
thought we use to signify the thing thought of in the 
mind; and the Latin idea, from the Greek eideo , to see, 
that is, the thing seen in the mind. Imagination creates 
and combines ideas. The most simple representation 
of an object is an idea; thought is reflection on that 
object, and imagination combines ideas. Hence, imagi¬ 
nation is the fruit of peculiar thought; the thought 
may be borrowed, but imagination is ideopathic always. 
It is characteristic, and the peculiar property of the 
individual who thus creates and combines. 

We use the term ideal , to signify an idea without the 
reality; it may not be opposed to the reality, but it is 
abstracted from it. But imaginary is directly opposed 
to the actual and real, because it is the unreal thing 
created by the imagination. The elements which enter 
into the composition of this fruitful Faculty, I suppose 
to be Credulity , Hope , Fear , Imitation, and Compari¬ 
son. Hence, when other faculties are in a favorable 
condition, as it respects health and their degrees of 
development, Imagination serves some of the highest 
and most ennobling purposes of manhood. For the 
history of past ages shows that those men and women 
who have exercised this function in the greatest per¬ 
fection, have exerted the most effluence over others, 


164 


PATHETISM. 


while their own names and honors have become im¬ 
mortal. 

If these definitions are correct, it may become ap¬ 
parent in what sense the term imagination is misapplied 
when speaking of the changes that occur in the nervous 
system. It is common to refer all cases, all changes in 
the human mind which are not traceable to some visible, 
audible, or tangible cause, to the “ force of imagination.” 
But we might ask to be informed what part the imagi¬ 
nation performed in the case of the ship carpenter who 
did not know when his leg was jerked off by a chain 
cable. You read or write, in your room, and never 
hear yon clock, as it correctly strikes the hours of the 
day. Is it imagination that suspends your sense of 
hearing ? In all mental epidemics, it is common for its 
victims to exercise more or less credulity. But mere 
credulity is not imagination. The undue excitement of 
wonder we call gullibility. All persons have these 
same faculties of marvellousness and wonder, though 
not by any means developed in the same degree. 
Hence it is easy to see the difference in different minds. 
Here is a man who, if you tell him the Old South 
Church was swallowed up last night by an earthquake, 
you see he opens his mouth instantly, gapes, and won¬ 
ders at the news you give him. Here is another, car¬ 
ried away with the “ mineral ” or “ divining rod.” This 
wonderful rod is made of whalebone or “ witch hazel.” 
Any one may take the rod, and, by giving it a peculiar 
squeeze in the hand, it will twist, and point to the place, 
it is said, where there is a stream of water running 
under the earth, or where there are any precious ores or 
precious metals deposited by pirates! Many a field, 
many a shore, many a hill and dale have been perambu- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


165 


lated in this manner, and the parties holding the rod 
having not the shadow of suspicion that they were 
treading in the very atmosphere, and upon the fruitful 
soil of gullibility; but what have these states of mind 
to do with the imagination ? 

Look into almost any one of our city papers, and you 
will see advertisements, all appealing to this wonderful 
susceptibility of the human mind, which is thus carried 
away by stories of the marvellous. “ A retired physi¬ 
cian,” “ a retired clergyman,” “ a retired sea captain, 
whose sands ef life are nearly run,” “ a female cured” 
of so and so! And thousands of people are gullible 
enough to bite at such bait as this, and pay dearly for 
the whistle. 

Why, fortune-telling is about as common now as in 
the days of the Salem witchcraft. Indeed, if the reli¬ 
ance which multitudes now place on “ spiritual commu¬ 
nications ” should be classed under this head, then we 
must admit that there never were so many fortune¬ 
tellers as now, and never was there any period when so 
much of this kind of hocus-pocus work was performed, 
and the whole of which, by certain writers, is put down 
under the head of imagination. 

But surely this is not the legitimate work of imagina¬ 
tion, and it seems to me a desecration of language to 
apply this term to a class of ignorant, credulous people, 
who do not know scarcely what they do. Persons 
engage in the practice of certain arts, such as “ clair¬ 
voyance,” “fortune-telling,” and the like, may fraud¬ 
ulently deceive, but they are unworthy of the applica¬ 
tion of this term. There are others, who “ sin with their 
eyes wide open,” and who know that their assumptions 
in regard to their powers for “ reading character,” or 


166 


PATHETISM. 


curing disease, are false and unfounded. This class 
never submit their claims to any thing like a scientific 
test. The ignoramuses submit to tests, and they fail, as 
the “mesmeric doctor” is reported to have done in 
Turin, when he undertook to pathetize a lawyer in open 
court. The account goes on to inform us that, on the 
occasion here referred to, a number of these so-called 
“ doctors ” were fined, as it would seem, for assuming 
what they knew to be unfounded in philosophy or sci¬ 
ence ; and they were served right. 

Another class comprehends those persons who mix up 
a vast amount of ignorance with a small quantity of 
truth. They have a few fragmentary facts in clairvoy¬ 
ance perhaps, and but little or no reliable knowledge of 
Nature’s laws;, they launch out into unfounded assump¬ 
tions in respect to some peculiar “gift,” with which they 
claim to be endowed, forgetting all the while that the 
rarest gifts of which any one can boast are common 
sense and integrity of character. And in despite of 
these nostrums, cures do often occur in persons for 
whom they prescribe, — cures which are made, not by 
medicine, but by Natures Self-Healing Forces , which 
Forces are always more or less active; and the less 
active when the greatest amount of drugs are swal¬ 
lowed. But, when these cures occur, it seems to me a 
misuse of terms to attribute them to the “force of 
imagination.” Faith and Hope are Faculties of the 
human mind, and it is their legitimate Function to 
assist Nature’s forces in the relief of human suffering. 
This, indeed, they have always done, in despite of sci¬ 
ence, in despite of all the learning of “ the learned pro¬ 
fessions,” and in despite of all the quackery in medicine 
and in theology, as I doubt not they will continue to do 
in all time to come. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


167 


The cases I have given under the head of Self-Induc¬ 
tion, cannot be attributed to imagination; they were 
not imaginary but real cases. Imagination is the work 
of volition; the will calls into motion faculties of the 
mind by which certain creations are made. But the 
cures, the insensibility to pain which I have described, 
occurred without any direct volition at all. And a re¬ 
sult of this kind occurring without volition, and where 
it was not anticipated, we must account for not by the 
“ force of imagination,” but by laws that inhere in our 
nature, and we may add, that laws are in us for this 
very purpose. The conception formed in the mind may 
be imaginary, but the change thus induced in the ner¬ 
vous system is real. This fact is overlooked often when 
speaking of what are misnamed imaginary cures. The 
changes induced in the vital forces, by the states of the 
mind, do not depend on the accuracy of our mental 
deductions. Of all that combine in making up that 
wonderful organism we call Man, the nervous system 
is the most plastic, it is the nearest to the mind, it is the 
substance in which the mind inheres, and such is the 
intimate and mysterious union of the two functions, 
that they necessarily control each other. And consider 
how multifarious are the functions and the plastic sus¬ 
ceptibilities of the three entire nervous systems, (vital, 
motive, and mental,) which combine in the human or¬ 
ganism, and with these multitudinous and variable sus¬ 
ceptibilities, consider, also, the capacity of the human 
mind, and what it has done in the sphere of Intellect, 
and the range of Hope, Fear, Credulity, and Imagina¬ 
tion. The marvel is, not that the nervous and mental 
changes occur, to which I have referred in these pages, 
but that occurring, as they have done, in such profusion, 


168 


PATHETISM. 


in all ages of the world, we have been so very slow in 
the discovery of the laws by which they have been 
brought about. 


Volition. 

I use the terra will , to signify that power, or combina¬ 
tion of powers, by which the human mind determines 
to perform, or not to perform, any given action; that 
power which is exercised in deciding between two or 
more objects, which one we shall secure. The reason 
is exercised in respect to the value of things; the judg¬ 
ment determines which is to be preferred, and will 
takes that which is the most important. This term is 
used in a variety of senses, and for ages many and fierce 
disputes have been carried on among theologians in 
respect to its freedom, and still this problem is far from 
having been satisfactorily solved. But, whether or not 
the human will be a distinct faculty of the mind, it is 
not necessary for us now to inquire. It may be the 
resultant motion of a class of faculties, or may be con¬ 
sidered as the action of the whole combined. However 
the question may be solved, the will must be considered 
as a part of the great whole of things. Of this power 
the poet has said that Deity,— 

“Binding Nature fast in Fate, 

Left free the human will.” 

But poets, priests, and doctors have a license for saying 
many things that are not true in philosophy, although 
they may appear to be so in fact. 

The difficulties in the solution of this question seem 
to come from man’s inability to comprehend himself. 
His nature is complex. It is made up of many elements, 
many organs and functions, that have, perhaps, never 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


169 


yet been either enumerated or correctly understood. 
And hence it is, differing so much in temperament, age, 
education, capacities, and experience, we can but differ 
in our estimates of the human will. 

I do not, in these pages, propose to enter at all into 
the theological aspects of the subject; my object is 
rather to speak of the mistaken views which prevail in 
respect to the power of volition in the production of 
Psychological phenomena. 

I have attempted to show that Pathematic results 
are immediately commenced by the patient’s own mind, 
operating on his own nervous system. The remote or 
suggestive cause may be extrinsic, in what the patient 
sees , hears , or feels done or said by the operator. But 
the influence for producing the trance is commenced 
always through the external senses. And then, after 
the process of entrancing has been repeated for a cer¬ 
tain length of time, when the Relation is established 
between the operator and a clairvoyant , the clairvoyant 
sense enables the patient to know what the operator’s 
will is, and in such cases, the former sinks into the 
trance, when at a considerable distance from the latter. 
To test the power of the will, let an experiment be 
tried on a mute, who Can have had no idea of what is 
attempted upon him. In this and all similar trials with 
any class of persons, you will find that no influence 
whatever can be exerted over another by mere volition, 
except on the conditions here described. 

By repeating the processes for Pathetism, a habitude 
for the trance is formed by the use of the external 
senses: and when this habit is once contracted, it is 
difficult to prove that this state comes on by “ spirit 
influence,” or by the mere volition of an operator. It 
15 



170 


PATHETISM. 


may occur, indeed, without any conscious volition of 
the patient, and on this account he is the more likely to 
mistake in attributing it to the volition of invisible, 
imaginary personages, when there is no more reason for 
his doing so than there would be to suppose his gaping 
when sleepy was caused by “ spirit influence.” 

It has been quite too common, when speaking on this 
subject of volition, to confound elements which phil¬ 
osophical accuracy requires to be kept entirely separate. 
In all influences attempted upon the nervous system of 
another, there are two wills concerned. One is active, 
the other passive, or both may be active in one direc¬ 
tion, and both passive in another. And the conditions 
do not often occur where it is possible to test this ques¬ 
tion in respect to volition. The dog, it may be said, 
obeys the will of his master; but that will is made 
known by sounds or signs addressed to the dog’s ex¬ 
ternal senses. 

As there are two wills concerned in this experiment, 
it is important to ascertain what parts are performed by 
each one, what is possible, and what is actually done. 
Let A represent the operator, and B the patient; and 
the various states and conditions favorable for results 
we will designate by numerals, thus : — 

1. B can and does fall into a state of trance, and is 
clairvoyant spontaneously, without any operator. 

2. A makes passes over the body of B, and impresses 
his mind by what he says to him. B yields his will to 
the idea of the trance, and it follows, associated in B’s 
mind with the processes adopted by A for bringing it on. 

3. A, unknown to B, makes an effort to induce the 
trance, by his volition alone, without any external 
processes, and fails. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


171 


4. B imagines A wishes him to fall into the trance, 
when A does not have any thoughts whatever about it; 
but the state of B’s own mind brings on the trance, and 
B erroneously attributes it to the mere volition of A. 

5. In the mean time, B hears wonderful stories told 
of “ spirits ” and “ spirit influences.” And being spon¬ 
taneously disposed to the trance, and his mind once 
“impressed” with the idea of “spirit influence,” he 
finds himself entranced; and as he knows of no other 
way for accounting for its occurrence, he attributes his 
trance to his i% guardian spirit,” of course, whose voli¬ 
tion alone is powerful and sufficient to induce that 
state; nor that alone, for he is thus “ inspired,” and B 
thus becomes an “inspirational medium,” a teacher, 
lecturer, “ under spirit influence.” 

6. B becomes clairvoyant, it may be; and at a time 
when this clairvoyant sense is highly excited, he be¬ 
comes cognizant of A’s will that he should become 
entranced; and, if the trance follows, in order to be 
attributed to A’s volition, it should be repeated a suffi¬ 
cient number of times to put the matter beyond all 
doubt, and show the trance was not incidental. The 
day, the hour, and the minute should be carefully noted 
when the volition is made, and when the trance occurs. 
This done for a succession of days, and we can then 
judge how far the results can be legitimately attributed 
to volition alone. 

7. To test the volition of spirits. If B is a medium, 
obtain his permission to carry on a conversation with 
the spirit which controls him, which the medium shall 
not know. Let it be done in writing. Now make an 
agreement with B’s guardian spirit, fixing the day, the 
hour, the minute, and all the conditions of the case, that 


172 


PATHETISM. 


the spirit will induce the medium to utter certain words, 
and that he should perform certain specific actions, at 
the time and the place agreed upon. And the experi¬ 
ment should be repeated, to show that what occurs is 
more than accidental, or incidental; and when you find 
it successful three or four times in succession, you will 
have one peg on which to hang your faith in “ spirit 
influence.” 

From this Formula, we may see why it is necessary 
to repeat the processes of Pathetism, in order to be able 
to control another by mere volition. In this manner 
the clairvoyant sense becomes active, and thus the 
spheres of A and B are blended, thus become ac¬ 
quainted, as it were assimilated; one leads, and the 
other follows; one commands, and the other obeys. In 
a similar way, the dog and the horse become cognizant 
of the will of a master, and they yield that obedience 
which no other person can obtain from them. 

This view of the clairvoyant sense, in results pro¬ 
duced by volition, relieves the subject of that mist in 
which it has been involved by the notions of a fluid 
supposed to be eliminated by A, and transmitted 
through the atmosphere, a distance of from a few feet 
to a thousand miles or more. How common electricity 
passes through the atmosphere, without its appropriate 
conductors, the zigzag lightning shows. And is this 
imaginary fluid, exuded from A, a thousand miles 
through the conflicting, antagonistic elements in the 
earth, the sea, and the air, more powerful even than the 
electrical forces? If so, how is it that we never see 
houses, trees, and intervening objects shivered to atoms 
by it, as is done by the electrical forces? But the 
notion of a nervous fluid is absurd, and has nothing in 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


173 


science or philosophy on which to rest. It was never 
proved, and I may add, the notion has never been 
received by any one having attainments of which to 
boast in any department of natural science. 

This view, moreover, will account for the fact that 
results by volition alone have always been so very lim¬ 
ited and so seldom performed. The sphere of clairvoy¬ 
ance is limited similarly as is the sphere of natural 
vision. This shows why it is so necessary for the pa¬ 
tient B to be within a certain distance in space of A, 
the operator. "For, however clairvoyant, if B is removed 
too far from A, volition fails, as the power of vision 
fails when the object is beyond the reach of sight. 
And hence it is, in all cases, the results depend more on 
the susceptibilities, or the clairvoyant sense, than they 
do on the will of the operator. 

Results, I am sure, have often been attributed to the 
mere will of the operator, which were spontaneous, or 
which were produced by sympathetic imitation, or by 
the laws of association. The error which generally 
prevails among spiritists, in respect to the extraordinary 
power of the will of one person over the mind of an¬ 
other, are precisely the same notions which formerly 
gave rise to the vagaries of witchcraft. And what de¬ 
lusions and horrible murders were perpetrated under 
that egregious error! A similar error prevails also in 
respect to mediums, and persons who have been once 
entranced. But it should be borne in mind al¬ 
ways, that if any thing whatever be done or said, 
which directly or indirectly suggests the result to the 
mind of the patient, the trance under such circum¬ 
stances cannot be attributed to the mere will of the 
operator. When the wishes of the operator are made 
15 * 


174 


PATHETISM. 


known, or anticipated, or suspected by the patient, it is 
all the same; he sinks into the trance, although the 
operator has had no thoughts whatever about it. This 
question in respect to the human will is important, and 
I have frequently found myself called upon to correct 
the misrepresentations that have been made of my own 
views in respect to it. Indeed, in most of my public 
lectures on this subject, I always found a tendency in 
uninformed persons to misinterpret the results they 
witnessed, often attributing them to my will, in the old 
mesmeric sense, even when I explicitly disclaimed that 
notion. I disclaimed it in all my advertisements, in all 
my writings, and in my public lectures. And yet, some 
fifteen years after these explanations had been thus 
uttered and reiterated far and near, a writer in the 
Boston Banner of Light newspaper recently made the 
following statement: — 

“ Some twelve years ago, or more, Mr. Sunderland’s placards were 
placed in the most conspicuous places all over the country, telling the 
public w r hat he would do by the power of his will. The things were 
done ; but it now appears that the manner by which they were done is 
not so apparent.” 

It is sufficient, perhaps, for me here to say, that the 
writer (a lady “medium” who "was entranced in my 
lectures in Fall River, Massachusetts, some years ago) 
is in error. I never used any such language in respect 
to my will, in any placards or advertisements I ever 
published. Nay, I affirmed in all my handbills directly 
the contrary of this. In 1842, and from that year to 
the present, I promised in my bills to induce the trance 
“ in a manner to show the falsity of the theories prev¬ 
alent under the name of Mesmerism and Animal Mag¬ 
netism, in respect to a fluid and the human will.” I 
never made any such promise about my will; nor did I 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


175 


ever say, as this writer alleges, that “the will is only 
known to act through the external senses.” These are 
not the words I used. What I said was, that “the 
human will of one person was never known to act upon 
the nervous system of another, until a relation had 
been previously established between the patient and 
the operator, through one or each of the external 
senses.” Nor is it true that my announcing that I 
would induce the trance on some persons, even before 
reaching my lecture room, is proof that I taught this 
notion as to'the independent action of my will! This 
“ announcement ” proves precisely the contrary! When 
I announced what I would do beforehand, the patients 
all heard what I said, and thus they were addressed 
through their external sense of hearing. Of course, 
when my patients heard me say what I wished them to 
do, they were reached through their external senses, 
and this suggestion set their own nervous systems to 
work, which resulted in the trance. 

This writer and others need to be informed that per¬ 
sons entranced by one operator are similarly and sym¬ 
pathetically affected. That is, what one feels, they all 
feel, and what one sees, they all see. And hence, if I 
entrance a thousand persons in one lecture, through the 
external senses, and have among them one reliable clair¬ 
voyant, or one whom I can control without addressing 
the external senses, why, of course, in controlling that 
one, I control the whole, because they will all act in 
sympathy with that one. And hence it is easy for per¬ 
sons who attended my lectures, as the writer did, to 
misjudge what they witnessed; and to guard against 
that misapprehension, I have always taken extraor¬ 
dinary pains to explain my views in regard to the power 


176 


PATHETISM. 


of the human will. But this writer wishes to know 
how I controlled my patients to “see ghosts” in my 
lectures. I answer, precisely so far as they were under 
my influence, they would “see” or believe whatever I 
told them to. As to their really seeing an inhabitant 
of the moon, or of any other world, that was hallucina¬ 
tion, and nothing else. The ghosts were inside the 
brains of those who saw them. 

This writer says again : — 

“ When Spiritism seeks to establish its facts before the world, it is 
denied by Mr. Sunderland the right to use the same instrumentalities 
which he so fondly coveted, to establish his theories, unless by the 
commission of a wrong in so doing. I would like to inquire, If it is 
wrong for me to give up my individuality and selfhood to the control 
of spirits, was it not wrong for me to do so to Mr. Sunderland, (as I 
did,) to establish the science of Pathetism ? ” 

There is a wide difference between Mr. Sunderland, 
whom you know, and an invisible personage, (real or 
imaginary, you cannot tell which,) whom you do not 
know. When you submitted your nervous system to 
Mr. Sunderland, you were both inhabitants of this 
world; and it was possible for you or your friends to 
hold him responsible for any mischief in which Path¬ 
etism might involve you. But not so in the case of the 
trance brought on by the belief in spirits. You do not 
know who the spirit is; you do not know the real char¬ 
acter or design of the invisibles; you cannot cross- 
examine them; you cannot call them to an account for 
any thing they say or do. If you shut your eyes, and 
allow your soul to be made a tool of by “ spirits,” you 
may find yourself in bad company before you are aware 
of it. And further, when one sinks into a state of 
trance under the belief in “ spirits,” there can be no sat¬ 
isfactory proof of any other spirit than your own, or 
any will, direct or indirect, but your own will. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


177 


I never taught that it was morally wrong to submit 
the nervous system to the control of spirits. But I am 
sure that it is not safe for mortals to surrender their 
selfhood up to the control of the idea of spirits in the 
manner many have done. I speak from what I know, 
and testify what I have seen. There are many who 
have acted as public media, without being conscious of 
any injury, no doubt. But this does not prove that it 
is, on the whole, safe, or that persons should desire to 
become mediums* 

It is safe for mortals to Pathetize mortals; and, for 
aught I know, it may be safe for spirits to entrance 
spirits; but for spirits (real or imaginary) to entrance 
mortals, is a different thing altogether; and hence the 
manifest fallacy in assuming that spirits, whom we do 
not know, may do with mortals what mortals may do 
with each other; but what mortals cannot do, in return, 
on spirits. 

To render this subject still more plain, bear in mind 
what I have said in respect to the clairvoyant sense in 
the patient. Now, if I have one such clairvoyant, in a 
company of ten or of ten thousand others entranced, 
who are not clairvoyant, of course I can control them, 
simultaneously, as one person, because they are all in 
sympathetic communication with the one who is clair¬ 
voyant of my will, and who thus knows what my wishes 
are. The clairvoyant knows, to a limited extent, what 
my wishes are; and all the others, more or less, take 
their cue from what they hear said and done by that 
one, whom they follow. See now the mistake of the 
writer in regard to this matter: — 

“ It is a well-known fact that many persons who were entranced in 
Mr. Sunderland’s lectures, went upon his platform, and it was ever 


178 


PATHETISM. 


understood by his audiences at the time, that said persons went upon 
the platform because Mr. Sunderland willed them to come. Did his 
will cause them to come, or did they come of their own accord ? If 
his will operated in the case to draw them up, to which one of the 
external senses was that will directed? Nowit must be remembered 
that each subject is seated in the hall, with eyes closed and hearing 
stopped, and yet they go upon the platfortn an entire stranger to all 
dthers of his subjects, and perform what he wants them to.” 

Subjects always came upon my platform because I 
“will them to come;” but they could never have 
known what I willed them to do, if I had not told 
them, by addressing the external senses beforehand. 
Soldiers on the field of battle fight, fearless of death, 
because their commander “ wills ” them to do so; but if 
he did nothing but will them to fight, my opinion is, 
that the commander’s volition would accomplish just 
nothing at all; and so in Pathetism — the operator’s 
will does nothing, except what it does in his own words 
and actions, addressed at first to the senses of sight, 
hearing, and feeling of his patients. Nor is it suscepti¬ 
ble of proof that “spirits” have ever entranced any 
mortal who had not heard or seen something alleged of 
“ spirits,” before the trance came on. And when per¬ 
sons of a certain temperament once get impressed with 
a notion or an idea of an influence (in Pathetism or 
Spiritism) which they are made to believe is sufficient 
to entrance them — no matter whether that “ influence ” 
be real or fictitious — such persons fall into that state 
which we call the trance. 

Another important mistake in the foregoing par¬ 
agraph, is in supposing that “each subject” entranced 
in a public lecture had his or her “ hearing stopped.” I 
am sure that no one subject, the world over, ever had 
the sense of “ hearing stopped,” when first entranced. 
Scarcely one in a thousand ever has the hearing stopped 
at all; the mind may be diverted , and the patient may 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


179 ’ 


be made to believe that he does not see, or hear, or 
taste, or smell, or feel, when at the same time they have 
the use of each of the external senses. It is a rare 
thing to find the sense of hearing wholly suspended in 
a state of trance. Were it wholly “stopped,” how 
could a patient hear what I said to him ? 

When Inquirer, therefore, says that subjects, “ entire 
strangers,” have come upon my platform and done what 
I willed them to, I admit this; but she overlooks the 
fact that these “ entire strangers ” are guided by their 
external senses, with which they are in communication 
with the clairvoyant who is cognizant of my will. 

“Inquirer” puts the following question: — 

“ Mr. Sunderland, can you tell how your subjects were addressed 
through the external sense of hearing, when they are unconscious, as 
I was ? ” 

I reply: If I entranced you, I am sure that you were 
not unconscious of what I said to you; nor were you 
unconscious of what my other subjects said or did in 
your presence. This is a mistake, which a larger expe¬ 
rience will correct. 

The hallucinations I induced in Inquirer’s mind, when 
she attended my lectures, she calls “facts” — that is, I 
made her see “facts;” I made her believe that she saw 
a ghost, and “ it was a fact,” she says, which she saw. 
Yes, it was one of Dr. Weatherspoon’s “second class of 
facts.” Dr. Weatherspoon had two classes of facts; 
first, those facts which happened, and secondly, those 
facts which never did happen! All entranced people 
see a great many “facts” which never happen. I wish 
I could, indeed, cause Inquirer to see the facts, the fun¬ 
damental laws, of Pathetism. She would be a wiser 
woman, I am sure. Let us see, now. She dreams that 



180 


PATHETISM. 


the moon is made of green cheese. The dream is a 
“fact,” sure enough; but it is not a fact that the moon 
is made of green cheese, or it may be one of Dr. 
Weatherspoon’s second class of facts — those facts 
which all hallucinated people see more or less of. 

Inquirer speaks as if I had, or would, deny her right 
to judge for herself, as to whether she does or does not 
really see a ghost when she is entranced or hallucinated. 
Not so; I do not, and never did, deny the right of any 
one to judge as to whether the things they think they 
see be subjective (in their own brains), or objective (out¬ 
side of their own minds). What I affirm is, that all 
persons entranced are more or less liable to mental hal¬ 
lucinations. She inquires again: — 

“ Will Mr. Sunderland be so kind as to inform me how I am more 
liable to come in contact with spirits who would make a tool of me, by 
giving up my organism to their control, than would be practised by 
mortals ? ” 

You mistake what I said. What I affirmed was, that 
we are more liable to be injured by surrendering our 
nervous systems to invisible personages whom we do 
not and cannot know whether they be imaginary or not, 
than we are by being pathetized by mortals whom we 
do or may know. When, therefore, you say that a 
mortal could as easily make a tool of you as any spirit, 
of whose personal identity and whose real grade you 
know nothing at all, I see the plane you occupy. We 
cannot hold the spirits to any responsibility whatever 
for what they do, or what they fail to do. It is not 
thus with mortals. 

This notion in respect to the power of one will over 
another has been the source of all the mischief in witch¬ 
craft, and it ought to be exploded. When giving lec¬ 
tures in Salem, Massachusetts, — that spot of all others 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


1SI 


so far-famed for wizards and witches two hundred years 
ago, — a woman came to me whom I had never seen be¬ 
fore., and accused me of having controlled her by my 
“ will power ” four years previously, and she said she 
had been bewitched by me ever since! Now, what 
could I do in this case? For this poor deluded woman 
was just as sure that I had willed her to do certain 
things four years before I had any knowledge of her, as 
“Inquirer” is, now that she has been controlled by my 
mere will, independent of her external senses. This 
Salem woman attended my lectures, and came on my 
platform with her eyes shut, and acted with my other 
subjects, and all this she did while I icilled with all my 
might against it. I did not want her there, and begged 
of her to keep away, but she followed me to Lowell, 
and I had to apply to the mayor and the police to get 
rid of her; and all this while she insisted upon it that I 
willed her to act as she did. Why, I have known hun¬ 
dreds of people to affirm that they were controlled by 
my will , when I knew that they acted directly contrary 
to my will all the time, and I may now refer to Inquirer, 
as a case in point. While engaged in a controversy on 
this subject, she declined an invitation I made to her to 
submit this whole question to a reasonable test. The 
excuse she assigned was'characteristic; she said she did 
not dare to submit herself to my test, lest I should, by 
my “ more powerful will,” make the result contrary to 
her wishes! Now the curiosity of this feminine ob¬ 
jection will be seen if two things are borne in mind: — 

1. That if I should actually control her will, as she 
seemed to fear, why, of course, it would prove my 
notions false, and hers would be thus proved true! 

2. I did exercise the “powerful will,” which the lady 

16 


132 


PATHETISM. 


so much feared to encounter, in efforts to alter her views 
of my theory; I willed her to retract her erroneous 
statements of my lectures; but, finding my will wholly 
inoperative on her mind, I must conclude that the 
account I have here given of this Function of the hu¬ 
man mind is true, and the only one which can stand the 
test of philosophical investigation. 

Involuntary. 

To do justice to our subject, it seems necessary to 
consider a class of actions, which, it is alleged, are not 
voluntary; they are said to be such as are performed 
without the “free will” of the actor. They do not 
proceed from his own conscious choice, or they are per¬ 
formed against his will. Correct usage would, perhaps, 
require that we should use the term action to signify 
what is done voluntarily, and motion to designate what 
is done without volition. Motions may be involuntary 
which are not opposed to the will, as in the lungs and 
the heart. But the question now before us is this: In 
what sense, and under w^hat circumstances, is it possible 
to force the human will ? Is this ever done ? That is, 
can one will overpower and force action in another will? 
I answer, certainly not; this never was done, never can 
be done, by the will alone. I do not speak of what 
may be done by physical force, as this investigation has 
respect only to what is mental, and included in the laws 
of Psychology. When the will is forced by the fear of 
physical pain, or the dread of death, the actions are 
involuntary, and against the will, but in such cases they 
are forced, not by the mere volition of another, but by 
physical means. Human responsibility may be annihi¬ 
lated by physical force, but never, in any case, by the 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


183 


mere will of the oppressor. In this sense, therefore, it 
is true, that while “Nature is bound fast in Fate, the 
human will is left free” from all compulsion by the 
mere will of another. Individual sovereignty is the 
true doctrine of manhood, and this Individuality can¬ 
not be destroyed. The freedom inherent in the human 
will consists in this more than in any thing else, that it 
cannot be forced by another will. The human mind 
may be deceived, it may be injured by error, but the- 
will is always free to follow, or not to follow, the will of 
another. The will results from the love element. We 
will what we most love. Now, as we love'according to 
our Temperaments, and the constitution of our natures, 
it is manifest, that when we speak of freedom in the 
human will, it can be affirmed only in respect to the 
relation which one will sustains to another. Each is 
absolutely free, and hence one will can never force in¬ 
voluntary action in another will. Whatever limits the 
Laws of Nature put to the sphere of the human will, it 
is free, that is, each one must be himself, and not an¬ 
other. He must, himself, love; he must, himself, taste; 
he must, himself, hear, see, and feel; for he cannot be 
any other but himself. Your will and your understand¬ 
ing are yourself, which can never be taken from you. 
Your weight, your size, your height, your capacities for 
air, food, motion, and thought make up your individual¬ 
ity, of which you cannot divest yourself, and which can 
never be taken from you, by the mere volition of an¬ 
other. Such is the nature and constitution of the 
human mind. 

Hence we see the fallacy of that notion which has pre¬ 
vailed under the name of Witchcraft and Mesmerism, 
in respect to the power which one will may force over 


184 


PATHETISM. 


another. But the human will can never be annihilated 
by a “charm,” nor overpowered and forced by Fascina¬ 
tion. Human responsibility is not to be shuffled out of 
existence in this manner. Where no physical force is 
used, no one can become an involuntary participant in 
a crime. Whatever is done, where no physical force is 
used, is done freely, voluntarily done, because it is freely 
willed by all the parties concerned. You may be de¬ 
ceived, but you have caution, reason, conscience, judg¬ 
ment, to guard you against deception. You have 
knowledge, also, of the Relations of Life — the Con¬ 
jugal, Parental, Filial, and the Fraternal Relations, from 
•which come all responsibilities, and from their fulfilment 
comes all goodness, all justice, all integrity and virtue. 
And thus it is, the human mind when individualized by 
maturity, and in a healthy condition, must be free for 
the fulfilment of all its natural and legitimate relations; 
and more than all, free, absolutely free, for resisting all 
other wills that might otherwise interfere with its 
freedom. 

But, although we affirm the absolute freedom of each 
human will, in respect to the power of every other will, 
yet no will, in itself considered, is absolutely free. The 
will of each individual is determined by unenumerated 
causes that go before, in constituting the temperament, 
the sex, the physical and mental capacities, the education, 
habits, and surroundings, all of which combine in mak¬ 
ing us what we are, and thus constituted, we must act, 
more or less, involuntarily. The mental states and the 
nervous phenomena, already referred to, which result 
from sympathetic imitation , may be involuntarily in¬ 
duced, not by the will of any one, but against the wills 
of large masses, who may thus become the victims of 
peculiar circumstances. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


185 


The papers have recently reported a most extraordi¬ 
nary case, now before one of the French courts. A 
certain Mr. C. died, leaving an express order to his 
heirs that he should be buried in church, and a hand¬ 
some sum paid to the priests, on condition that “ nobody 
should laugh while the service was going on ” The 
intelligent defunct had observed that undertakers and 
priests permit themselves often to take hilarious liber¬ 
ties with death, and he was determined that he should 
be buried with the gravity appropriate to the grave. 
Of course, the, odd request got noised abroad; all the 
village came to the funeral; and every body keeping an 
eye on every body else to see that nobody should so 
much as wink, the natural result followed. A fat priest 
near the coffin was the first to break down; the choir 
boys, in the frailty of their youth, followed the priest; 
the minor canons, trying to stop the choir boys, caught 
the contagion, and began to shake their sides; the dea¬ 
cons were off next into a full guffaw; and finally the 
cure himself was conquered, and choked in his hand¬ 
kerchief. In short, a merrier interment was never wit¬ 
nessed. But the heirs, not liking the sport, have 
refused to pay the clergy for their rollicking services, 
and the matter is now in court, where it will doubtless 
cease to be a laughing matter to any body but the 
lawyers. 

Such is the power which often compels people to 
laugh or to weep, to be grave or gay, involuntarily, not 
because such results are icilled by any one, but we are 
compelled to do so against our own wills, and in despite 
of ourselves. And in these imitative, sympathetic sus¬ 
ceptibilities of our nature we find the gist of those con¬ 
ditions and causes which bring about the crusades, the 
16 * 


186 


PATHETISM. 


money panics, sectarian revivals, Mesmeric results, and 
much of the mere nervous phenomena now prevalent 
under the name of Spiritism. Mental epidemics are 
characterized always by numerous mental states, which 
the parties declare to be wholly involuntary. Read the 
history of the Kentucky revival, which occurred some 
sixty years ago, during which, for a number of years, a 
succession of the most wonderful nervous phenomena 
occurred, called “ exercises,” such as falling down, jerk¬ 
ing and twitching the limbs, rolling the body on the 
ground, running, leaping, dancing, laughing, weeping, 
singing, praying, and barking, which I suppose should 
have been called the dog exercise. Indeed, the “ exer¬ 
cises ” combined all sorts of odd motions, some of which 
it would scarcely be possible to describe, and they gen¬ 
erally had a mixture of the “visions” and “trance 
states,” now so common among the spiritists of the 
present times. As these strange “ exercises ” were in¬ 
voluntary , and induced, unquestionably, by sympathetic 
imitation , and as they are characteristic of all panics, 
all revivals, all mental epidemics , it may be instructive 
to look at a few of them in this connection somewhat 
in detail. 

I have referred to the fact that during the first ser¬ 
mon I ever preached, (June 9, 1823, in Walpole, Massa¬ 
chusetts,) many of my audience fell upon the floor, and 
“lost theit strength,” as it was said. The earliest in¬ 
stance of the “ falling exercise ” in Kentucky, occurred 
in one of Mr. McGready’s congregations in the Green 
River country, whence it was rapidly propagated 
through Tennessee, Upper Kentucky, and even as far 
as the Carolinas. After exhortations of a rousing char¬ 
acter, especially if tender and pathetic, calculated to 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


187 


enlist deeply the feelings, or daring spirited and lively 
singing, and when the body was exhausted by copious 
weeping, one and another in the audience, sometimes to 
the number of scores, would suddenly fall prostrate on 
the ground, and swoon away. No sex or age was ex¬ 
empt ; the young and the old, men as well as women, 
fell; even large, robust young men, of the age of 
twenty; and one day at Cane Ridge camp meeting, it 
was remarked that nearly all who fell were men. 

Some fell suddenly, as if struck with lightning, while 
others were Seized with a universal tremor the moment 
before, and fell shrieking. Piercing shrieks were uttered 
by many during the whole period of prostration, inter¬ 
mingled with groans, cries for mercy, and exclamations 
of “ Glory! glory to God! ” If the assembly were lan¬ 
guid, a few shrieks and instances of falling quickly 
roused them, and others would begin to fall in every 
direction. Many were admonished of the coming at¬ 
tack by a pricking as of needles in the extremities, such 
as one experiences when the circulation of the blood is 
impeded, or a limb is benumbed. They complained 
also of a deadness or numbness of body, and found 
themselves, to their surprise, powerless to move at the 
bidding of the will. There were some who talked of a 
sweet feeling darting through the body, preceding the 
falling down. In general, there was no complaint of 
pain, but only of great weakness, both during and after 
the paroxysm; and it was observed, that a person who 
had fallen once was predisposed to fall again, and that 
under circumstances and exercises of mind by no means 
extraordinary. Women had their nerves so weakened 
by the frequency of these attacks, as to fill while walk¬ 
ing to or from the meeting-house, engaged in narrating 


188 


PATHETISM. 


past exercises, without any uncommon emotion, and to 
drop from their horses on the road. 

In this condition the subject would lie from fifteen 
minutes to two or three hours; and we are even told 
of a woman lying, without eating or speaking, for nine 
days and nights. Some were more or less convulsed, 
and wrought hard, in frightful nervous agonies, the eyes 
rolling wildly; but the greatest number were quite 
motionless, as if dead, or about to expire in a few mo¬ 
ments. Some were capable of conversing, others not. 

The face was sometimes pale, sometimes flushed pale 
red, sometimes it was pale yellow, or of a corpse-like 
hue; the breathing was hard and quick, even to gasp¬ 
ing. The nerves were weakened and tremulous, so 
much so as to render it difficult to feel the pulse; the 
sinews were generally corded, as in nervous complaints, 
and after heat and relaxation, — rarely cramped. In 
one instance, a woman’s hands were so cramped as to 
require the assistance of others to open and straighten 
them. 

In the hysterical state, there would be sometimes a 
drumming of the heels on the floor, with frequency 
and force, so as to be heard at the distance of several 
yards; sometimes a convulsive bouncing of the body 
on the floor, so as to make a loud noise; sometimes a 
prancing over the benches before falling. During the 
syncope, and indeed even when conscious, and talking 
on religious topics, the patient was insensible of pain. 
Vinegar and hartshorn were applied with no perceptible 
effect. Neither did such as fell, nor such as tumbled 
over, and struck a stump or a tree, sustain any injury 
from the concussion. It was while in a state of syncope 
that the visions and trances, shortly to be described, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


189 


occurred. The numbers affected in this singular manner 
were astonishing. At Cabin Creek camp meeting, 
May 22, 1801, so many fell on the third night, that, to 
prevent their being trodden upon, they were collected 
together, and laid out in order on two squares of the 
meeting-house, covering the floor like so many corpses. 
At Paint Creek sacrament, two hundred were supposed 
to have fallen; at Pleasant Point, three hundred; but 
these accounts are beggared by the great meeting at 
Cane Ridge, August 6, 1801, when three thousand were 
computed to have fallen. 

Swoons and convulsive fallings have been recorded as 
occurring in the days of Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, 
the Tennants, and Blair, as well as at Cambuslang and 
Kilsyth, and examples are not unfrequent in all revivals 
at the present day. But the phenomenon now to be 
described was something far more extraordinary, and 
altogether without a parallel, even in the history of 
modern spiritism. It was familiarly called The Jerks , 
and the first recorded instance of its occurrence was at 
a sacrament in East Tennessee, when several hundred 
of both sexes were seized with this strange and invol¬ 
untary contortion. The subject was instantaneously 
seized with spasms or convulsions in every muscle, 
nerve, and tendon. His head was jerked or thrown 
from side to side with such rapidity that it was impossi¬ 
ble to distinguish his visage, and the most lively fears 
were awakened lest he should dislocate his neck or dash ' 
out his brains. His body partook of the same impulse, 
and was hurried on by like jerks over every obstacle, 
fallen trunks of trees, or in a church, over pews and 
benches, apparently to the most imminent danger of 
being bruised and mangled. It was useless to attempt 


190 


PATHETISM. 


to hold or restrain him, and the paroxysm was permit¬ 
ted gradually to exhaust itself. An additional motive 
for leaving him to himself was the superstitious notion 
that all attempt at restraint was resisting the Spirit 
of God. 

The first form in which these spasmodic contortions 
made their appearance was that of a simple jerking of 
the arms from the elbow downwards. The jerk was 
very quick and sudden, and repeated at short intervals. 
This was the simplest and most common form, but the 
convulsive motion was not confined to the arms; it ex¬ 
tended, in many instances, to other parts of the body. 
When the joints of the neck were affected, the head 
was thrown backward and forward with a celerity 
frightful to behold, and which was impossible to be 
imitated by persons who were not under the “influ¬ 
ence.” The bosom heaved, the countenance was dis¬ 
gustingly distorted, and the spectators were alarmed 
lest the neck should be broken. When the hair was 
long, it was shaken with such quickness, backward and 
forward, as to crack and snap like the lash of a whip. 
Sometimes the muscles of the back were affected, and 
the patient was thrown down on the ground, when his 
contortions for some time resembled those of a live fish 
cast from its native element on the land. 

The most graphic description we have is from one 
who was not only an eye-witness, but an apologist. 

* He says,— 

“Nothing in nature could better represent this strange and 
unaccountable operation, than for one to goad another, alternately 
on every side, with a piece of red hot iron. The exercise com¬ 
monly began in the head, which would fly backward and forward, 
and from side to side, with a quick jolt, which the person would 
naturally labor to suppress, but in vain; and the more any one 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


191 


labored to stay himself, and be sober, the more he staggered, and 
the more his twitches increased. He must necessarily go as he 
was stimulated, whether with a violent dash on the ground, and 
bounce from place to place, like a football, or hop round, with 
head, limbs, and trunk twitching and jolting in every direction, as 
if they must inevitably fly asunder. And how such could escape 
without injury, was no small wonder to spectators. By this 
strange operation the human frame was commonly so transformed 
and disfigured, as to lose every trace of its natural appearance. 
Sometimes the head would be twitched right and left, to a half 
round, with such velocity that not a feature could be discovered, 
but the face appears as much behind as before; and in the quick, 
progressive jerk, it would seem as if the person was transmuted 
into some other species of creature. Head dresses were of little 
account among the female jerkers. Even handkerchiefs, bound 
tight round the head, would be flirted off almost with the first 
twitch, and the hair put into the utmost confusion ; this was a 
very great inconvenience, to redress which the generality were 
shorn, though directly contrary to their confession of faith. 
Such as were seized with the jerks were wrested at once, not 
only from under their own government, but that of every one 
else, so that it was dangerous to attempt confining them, or 
touching them in any manner, to whatever danger they were 
exposed ; yet few were hurt, except it were such as rebelled 
against the operation, through wilful and deliberate enmity, and 
refused to comply with the injunctions which it came to enforce.” 

From the universal testimony of those who have de¬ 
scribed these spasms, they appear to have been vjholly 
involuntary. Thus they have been represented by 
McNemar in the passage just cited. What demon¬ 
strates satisfactorily their involuntary nature is, not only 
that, as above stated, the twitches prevailed in spite of 
resistance, and even the more for attempts to suppress 
them; but that men would be seized with them while 
sedulously guarding against an attack, and cursing 
every jerk when seized. Travellers on their journey, 
and laborers at their daily work, were also liable to 
them. 

Instances have been given of men concealing whips 
on their persons, with the intention of using them upon 


192 


PATHETISM. 


the subjects or advocates of these contortions, who have 
themselves, to their great surprise and horror, been sud¬ 
denly seized in a similar manner, and their whips have 
been violently jerked out of their hands to a distance. 
A young man, the son of an elder, who was a tanner, 
feigned, sickness one Sabbath morning, to avoid accom¬ 
panying the family to a camp meeting. He was left 
alone in bed, with none others in the house but a few 
black children. He lay some time, triumphing in the 
success of his stratagem, but afraid to rise too soon, lest 
some one might be accidentally lingering, and detect 
him. As he lay quiet, with his head covered, his 
thoughts were naturally directed to the camp meeting, 
and fancy painted the assembled multitude, the public 
worship, and individuals falling into the usual spasmodic 
convulsions. All at once, becoming self-inducted, he 
found himself violently jerked out of bed, and dashed 
round the room, and against the walls, in a manner 
altogether beyond his control. Recollecting that pray¬ 
ing was said to be a good sedative on such occasions, he 
resorted to the experiment, and to his great satisfaction 
found it successful. He returned to bed quite relieved, 
but only to be again affected in the same way, and 
to be again quieted by the act of praying. He then 
dressed himself, and, to occupy his mind, went to the 
tan yard, and, drawing a skin from the vat, prepared to 
unhair it. He rolled up his sleeves, and, grasping the 
knife, was about to commence the operation, when, 
instantaneously, the knife was flirted out of his hand, 
and he himself jerked backward, over logs and against 
the fences, as before. Gaining relief by resorting to the 
former remedy, he ventured to resume his occupation, 
and again was he interrupted. But, finding his talisman 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


193 


losing its efficacy, he began now to be really alarmed, 
and, quitting the yard, he returned to his chamber, and 
betook himself to prayer in good earnest. In this con¬ 
dition, Weeping and crying to God for mercy, he was 
found by the family on their return. 

The jerks continued to prevail for several years. Dr. 
Cleland saw a young woman in a Baptist settlement up 
Green River, who had been subject to them for three 
years. Lorenzo Dow met with them in 1805, in Knox¬ 
ville, Tennessee. He was preaching in the court house, 
the governor being present, on which occasion one hun¬ 
dred and fifty persons were exercised with the jerks. 
Kor were they confined to any particular sect or de¬ 
nomination of Christians, for at an evening meeting 
that eccentric individual held eighteen miles from 
Knoxville, about a dozen Quakers — the most unlikely 
subjects that could have been selected — were affected 
by them. 

I once heard Dow describe the appearance of the 
fields and woods, some years after those strange exer¬ 
cises had ceased. When the ground was prepared for 
the meetings, it was customary to leave the stumps of 
small trees and saplings standing some six feet high, for 
the jerkers to seize and hold themselves up by when 
“ the influence ” came upon them; and for many years 
afterwards, the trees, far and near, were seen from 
which the bark had been stripped off by the use which 
the jerkers had found it necessary to make of them 
while “ exercised” in the manner here described. 

The rolling exercise is specifically noticed by Mc- 
Kemar as a distinct variety, and is described as con¬ 
sisting in being violently prostrated, doubled with the 
head and feet together, and rolling over and over like a 
17 


194 


PATHETISM. 


wheel, or turning swiftly over and over sidewise like a 
log. The intervention of mud offered no obstacle, al¬ 
though the individual should be sullied from head 
to foot. 

In the running exercise , the person affected took a 
sudden start, and was impelled to run with amazing 
swiftness, as if engaged in a race, leaping over every 
obstacle in his way with preternatural agility. This 
was continued till his strength was completely ex¬ 
hausted. Mr. Lyle saw a young woman fall at Salem, 
in 1802, who lay a good while, and then, jumping up, 
cried, as in distraction, that she wanted to serve God, 
but others hindered her. She “ pranced ” over the 
benches for some time, and then fell down and lay as in 
a syncope. 

It was early observed, that those who fell in the in¬ 
voluntary syncope, or swoon, after remaining in a state 
of insensibility even for hours, upon being aroused from 
it, professed to have been favored with wonderful vis¬ 
ions of things unutterable. They would discourse, and 
exhort, and sing in what were termed the “ strains of 
heaven,” in an elevated style, far beyond what was sup¬ 
posed to be their ordinary ability, and which could only 
be accounted for by the aid of inspiration. 

In the dreams which they had at night upon their 
beds, and in the trances into which they fell, these pre¬ 
dominant thoughts converted every form and object 
suggested by the imagination into a sacred emblem, 
pregnant with spiritual meaning. The sun, the moon, 
the stars, mountains, rivers, plains, animals, and vegeta¬ 
bles, whatever material objects were presented to the 
mind, were appropriated as symbolical of some corre¬ 
spondent analogy in the kingdom of Christ. Thus there 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


195 


were nocturnal visions of two suns, or of three moons; 
and waking visions of a great platform or galaxy of 
stars in the heaven at noonday. One beheld a purgato¬ 
rial fire, into which thousands rushed, and in which 
they were instantly purified from all gross and fleshly 
pollutions. Another saw the air darkened by flocks of 
ravenous birds, commissioned to devour the carcasses of 
all dead beasts. To the intense gaze of a third, a road, 
or track of light, a thousand miles in length, stretched 
away in the distance, along which messengers were 
approaching ..with good news from afar. Others, in 
these visions, were employed in crossing rivers, in climb¬ 
ing mountains, in finding treasures, and in fighting ser¬ 
pents, or more delightfully occupied in eating the fruit 
of the tree of life, bathing in pellucid streams, and 
exchanging their old garments for new. 

While the crowd of enthusiasts were obliged to be 
content, in common, with the privilege of ordinary vis¬ 
ions and trances, there was a selecter number admitted 
to more exalted degrees of mystic ecstasy. These 
highly-favored few emulated St. Paul in his ineffable 
rapture; and, happier than he, carried back to earth, 
from the heavenly region, indubitable tokens of their 
visit, in a peculiar fragrance, and a melodious sound in 
the breast. It is unfortunate that this delightful fra¬ 
grance seems to have been confined to the spirit of the 
individuals alone; had their bodies likewise been af¬ 
fected by it, they would have truly lived in the odor of 
sanctity , and, more fortunate than the saints of the 
ftomish calendar, might have enjoyed the honors, and 
exhibited the undeniable evidences, of a proleptic can¬ 
onization. 

The preachers were often interrupted in the midst of 


196 


PATHETISM. 


their discourses by bursts of singing and praying, vol¬ 
unteered by the laity, while shrieks, whoops, loud out¬ 
cries, and hysterical laughter, and the repetition of their 
words in louder accents, constituted a combination of 
annoyances, to which the waves of the sea, harangued 
by the Athenian orator, must have been a trifle. 

Hysterical laughter was at first sporadic, but in 1803 
we find “the Holy Laugh” introduced systematically 
as a part of worship. While Mr. Findley was preach¬ 
ing a lively sermon at Silver Creek sacrament, in June 
of that year, the people at some sentences laughed 
aloud. Sometimes half the professors of religion laughed 
in this way, appearing all the time solemn and devout. 
There were also repeated shouts of “ Glory! glory to 
God!” 

The authorities on which I rely for these accounts 
may be seen in Nichols’s “Religions of the World,” and 
they go on to describe various indecent excesses to 
which those “ exercises ” were sometimes carried. 

Besides the similar phenomena which occurred under 
my preaching for a series of years, as I have before 
stated, I may now mention the fact, which can but in¬ 
terest the curious in such matters, that among the 
countless hundreds entranced in my public lectures on 
Patlietism, it was common for all these various forms of 
nervous “exercises” to occur. Indeed, the mental 
emotions of the persons entranced, and their muscular 
“ exercises ” were often precisely similar to those oc¬ 
curring in the Kentucky revival. At times, persons of 
both sexes, old and young, becoming entranced, would 
leap over the pews or seats, and over the heads of the 
spectators; they walked rapidly on the edges of the 
platform, and over the backs of the seats, with their 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


197 


ores closed, and any efforts made by the spectators to 
restrain, them would sometimes put them into ungov¬ 
ernable fury. A Mr. Loring, a sailor, entranced in a 
lecture I gave in Lyceum Hall, South Boston, in 1848, 
on one occasion exhibited a marvellous degree of 
strength. A large number of sceptics were present, 
who undertook to interfere with my experiments. One 
of them ventured upon my platform, and I directed Mr. 
Loring to remove him, which he did in an instant, when 
Mr. Loring was seized by as many hands as could get 
hold of himr Handfuls of his hair were pulled from 
his head, and violent efforts made to injure his person, 
and remove him from the hall, the whole of which he 
successfully resisted, and in the melee he exhibited feats 
of strength upon which the spectators looked with 
utter amazement. 

It was a common remark always among people who 
were familiar with revivals, how much the nervous 
“ exercises ” of those “ influenced ” in my lectures re¬ 
sembled what they had seen in religious meetings 
among the different sects in which mental epidemics are 
theoretically and systematically promoted. The mus¬ 
cular “jerks ” and the falling exercises were the same, 
and when I so directed the “ influence,” their emotions 
of fear and of joy were precisely the same. And I 
may add, that I have entranced multitudes of religious 
people, including clergymen, who have themselves as¬ 
sured me that Pathetism and the influences they had 
felt in listening to the prayers, the hymns, and exhorta¬ 
tions in religious meetings, as nearly as they could judge, 
were precisely the same, and the whole to be alike ac¬ 
counted for by Psychological laws. And now ponder¬ 
ing these accounts, the thoughtful and candid of all 
17 * 


198 


PATHETISM. 


parties cannot, it seems to me, fail in noticing the char¬ 
acteristics of all sympathetic , imitative phenomena — I 
say all, under whatever name they may, for any partic¬ 
ular time or locality, be known. At one time they are 
attributed to the “Spirit of God;” at another they are 
believed to be by “ spirit influence,” and we are told 
that some thousands of mediums are now travelling in 
this country in the capacity of public lecturers' and 
teachers. They are said to be “inspired,” and to be 
“ entranced by departed spirits,” each one of whom is 
alleged to be under the control of some distinguished 
personage, or elevated “ circle,” of some fiftieth “ de¬ 
gree,” and in “the sixth” or “seventh sphere” of that 
invisible world which has been the fruitful source of all 
the forms of fanaticism ever known hitherto. Look, 
now, at some of the principal characteristics of what 
comes from that “ invisible ” terra incognita : — 

1. The phenomena are nervous and mental , as we 
have seen; the mind and the nervous systems necessa¬ 
rily act upon each other. But the whole of them, from 
first to last, involve the nervous functions, and hence to 
be understood we must call to our aid all the helps in 
Human Physiology, Pathology, Psychology, and Path- 
etism. 

2. These nervous phenomena are alleged to be pro¬ 
duced by an “ influence ” from another world, of which 
nothing is known. This “ influence ” is peculiar to all 
forms of fanaticism; it is a nose of wax, that takes its 
shape, in Popery, and in the multiplied forms of secta¬ 
rian dogmas; it is a will-o’-the-wisp, which we can 
never examine, or submit to any of the usual tests re¬ 
lied upon in scientific research. 

The phenomena I refer to are nervous, and to be 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


109 


accounted for by laws that appertain to the nervous 
system. Nor do I include in these remarks a class of 
physical phenomena I have myself witnessed, not ner¬ 
vous , but for which I could not account by any laws 
appertaining to this world. These I leave until I know 
something of the laws of their induction, or if, as is 
alleged, they be produced by inhabitants of another 
world, I must wait until I become acquainted with that 
world and its laws, before I can safely determine whether 
this assumption be true or not. It would be folly for 
me to stop to argue about a world of which nothing is 
at present known. The phenomena I can account for 
by laws that appertain to the human organism, I sup¬ 
pose it safe to believe have their origin in mundane 
laws. 

3. The depth , intensity , and extent (numbers affected) 
by this “influence,” determines the mania . Men go 
mad in crowds. A hot fire requires a larger amount of 
fuel. Revivals, panics, and mental epidemics depend 
on large masses to be simultaneously “ influenced,” 
“impressed,” and “controlled” alike. And, as physical 
maladies spread by physical infection, so do mental epi¬ 
demics spread by spiritual or Psychological infection, 
and sometimes seem to increase in a geometrical ratio. 

4. These “influences” reverse the functions of the 
human will. Thus, the laughing, the jerks, and twitch - 
ings peculiar to revivals and to spiritism, prevail not 
only against the expressed wishes of the victims, but 
they are often increased in intensity and power by the 
very efforts which the parties make to resist them. So 
it is in Pathetism; a patient increases the state of 
things which he makes an effort to overcome. This is 
self-induction and mental hallucination. What else is 


200 


PATHETISM. 


it, what else can such a state of the mind be, but in¬ 
sanity ? 

5. Finally, these nervous phenomena are involuntary. 
So it was, when the entire audience laughed at the 
funeral before described, and thus it is the mediums of 
the present day tell us they are entranced without any 
will of their own. This may indeed be true, and the 
trance is self-induced nevertheless. Because the states, 
the phenomena, are involuntary, it does not follow that 
they are not self-induced, as really so as any fit of 
gaping or laughing , which so often occur, not merely 
against one’s own wishes, but the more in proportion to 
the efforts of his own will for resisting it. All sympa¬ 
thetic, imitative results are more or less involuntary, 
and do not depend upon the volition of any one; they 
come on independent of our wishes, and cannot always 
be controlled by any human volition. 

Dreaming. 

Thoughts which occur during natural sleep we call 
dreams, from dormire , to sleep, or dormio , which signi¬ 
fies to sleep and to dream. 

“Dreams of troubled sleep, 

From which ’twaa joy to wake and weep ; 

Visions that will not be forgot, 

But sadden every working scene, 

Like warning ghosts, that leave the spot, 

All withered where they once have been.” 

It is characteristic of all dreams, that they occur in¬ 
dependently of volition. Indeed, we often become con¬ 
scious, not merely that we are dreaming, but that the 
will has no power to change our condition; we make 
ineffectual attempts to awake, but find ourselves “spell 
bound ” in sleep. I have alluded to the fact that there 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


201 


seems to be a striking resemblance between the trance, 
somnambulism, and ordinary dreaming. The clairvoy¬ 
ant sense is active in dreams, as really so, and perhaps 
more often than in the trance when artificially induced. 

And, as the most interesting cases of trance are those 
which are idiopathic, so the same may be said of clair¬ 
voyance and presentiment. The best cases are spon¬ 
taneous, and they occur in ordinary sleep. I should as 
soon rely upon common sleep and dreams as a source of 
knowledge of matters appertaining to this or to any 
other world, as upon clairvoyance artificially excited. 
Occasionally, and from conditions we do not yet fully 
comprehend, this sense will be found active, but not so 
often, I am sure, as in ordinary dreaming. It was the 
manifestation of the same, doubtless, in dreams, that in 
the primitive ages invested them with so much supersti¬ 
tious authority. Thus, among the ancient Jews, the 
dreams of Laban, Jacob, Pharaoh, Nebuchudnezzar, and 
Joseph, have become subjects of history, and probably 
from the same cause they were regarded with supersti¬ 
tion among the Greeks and Romans. 

As to the real nature of sleep or dreams, very little is 
known. We cannot enter these states as we enter a 
house or a field, and behold their beauties. As we 
sleep, the functions of the knowing organs cease, and 
we are incapacitated for thought. The will is sus¬ 
pended, aud then, as one or more of the cerebral organs 
retain more or less of their working activity, wc are in 
that state which 

“Gives rest and freedom to the o’erwrought slave, 

And steals the wretched beggar from his want.” 

When the sleep is perfect, there is no dream. All 
thought is motion , and the dream takes its character 


*202 


PATHETISM. 


from the different functions, that are more or less active, 
while the body and the external senses are at rest. In 
sleep, the motions are more centripetal. Light excites 
centrifugal motions; hence, plants and animals sleep in 
the night, when the nutritive motions centre in and 
around the life cells, and thus increase the material and 
the strength of which the human organism is made. 

See here, what vivid and truthful conceptions a Ro¬ 
man poet had of dreams, nearly two thousand years 
ago: — 

“ And they that strive, on close pursuits intent, 

In labors busied or on pleasures bent, 

In dreams afresh their pains or joys pursue ; 

The pleader then expounds the laws anew ; 

The chieftain sets the battle in array. 

And charging, spurs amidst the closing fray; 

The mariner beholds, with daunted eyes, 

The war of waves and hurly of the skies ; 

And we the essences of things engage, 

And nature’s mysteries shown in Latian page.” — Lucretius. 

Allusions are often made to dreams in classic authors, 
some of whom evince a knowledge of nature’s laws 
which surprises us when considered in- contrast with 
the general want of information in the occult sciences 
in those remote ages. The following, from the same 
author, describes the dreams of animals: — 

“ Oft the strong steeds that now in rest have lain, 

Are seen in dreams to sweat, and snort, and strain; 

As if, the prize in view, they launched their might, 

And the wished goal were opening to their sight. 

The huntsman’s dogs, that in soft slumbers lie, 

Will shake their legs and yelp with sudden cry, 

Snuff with their nostrils’ breath the indrawn gale, 

And seem to follow on the -winded trail: 

Roused with a start, they see before their sight 
A phantom stag, and stretch upon his flight, 

Till, shaking off the errors of the brain, 

They feel their waking consciousness again.” 

It was an observation made ages ago, that “ dreams 
come from the multitude of business.” The subjects 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


203 


which occupy the mind during wakefulness, give shape 
and color to our thoughts in sleep. A gentleman of my 
acquaintance gives the following account of his own 
case. It is interesting, as it seems to show that we are 
most apt to dream of subjects impressed upon our minds 
in youth, when the memory is most tenacious. We 
should suppose that in the plastic state of the brains, 
when in the process of growth, subjects would be likely 
to make the most lasting impressions on the pages of 
memory. And hence it is that we dream accurately of 
things we saw or felt in early life, although those things 
have long since changed or passed away; but we do 
not now see them in our dreams as they now are, but 
as they were years ago, when they first made impres¬ 
sions upon our memory. 

The gentleman here referred to is now fifty-seven 
years of age, and ever since he was about eight years 
old he has dreamed of Mary, who was his playmate for 
a year or two. After a short acquaintance they were 
parted for nearly forty years, during which time there 
was no communication between them; each of them 
were married, and had become the parents of children 
fully matured. But during this time he occasionally 
had pleasant dreams of Mary, whom he found joy in 
meeting thus in the dream land. 

But about fifteen years since, in one of his visits to 
Rhode Island, he accidentally found Mary in the per¬ 
son of Mrs. P., an elderly lady, who bore but a very little 
resemblance to the subject of his dreams. Of course he 
was much gratified in meeting with her, after having 
dreamed of her for so long a time, and he supposed, of 
course, that henceforth, if he dreamed of her at all, he 
would see the elderly matron that she was, Mrs. P. 


204 


PATHETISM. 


And now comes the curious part of this experience in 
the land of dreams. For the past fifteen years he has 
had occasional dreams, not of Mrs. P. as she now is, but 
of the little girl Mary, as she was when a child, and 
they rambled over the fields together. 

Dreams like this do certainly indicate their tendency 
to take their shape and general features from impres¬ 
sions previously made on the mind in the waking state. 

It has been common for a gentleman I know, who 
has characteristic firmness, force of will, and persever¬ 
ance, to dream of flying in the air. He has the sensa¬ 
tion of rising by the force of his own mind, and so 
propelling himself over houses, fields, trees, and all 
opposing difficulties. 

I have, myself, dreamed of former dreams, and have 
also dreamed that I had before had a dream of a cer¬ 
tain dream. When a lad, I sat down to rest under a 
tree, and looking at my hands, I had the following re¬ 
flections pass through my mind: “ I am now a little 

boy; and I now perceive what my views and feelings 
are as a child. When I become a man, I will then re¬ 
member this hour, and what I thought and said, w'hen a 
lad under this tree.” I have since dreamed that I was 
dreaming, and dreamed also that I would remember 
when I awoke, what my views were in the dream. 

Mr. Pendleton, formerly of New York, lithographer, 
many years ago related to me the following account of 
himself. Business rendered it necessary for him to visit 
Albany. But for some reasons, altogether inexplicable, 
he felt very much disinclined to go. After hesitating 
some time, he took one of the evening boats, and at the 
usual hour retired to his berth. On falling asleep, he 
dreamed that he was at home, where he saw his wife m 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


205 


great peril, pale, and scarcely alive from the loss of 
blood. She was so nearly dead that she had become 
cold, and he made a large fire, that by warming he 
might bring her back to life again. The dream so dis¬ 
tressed him that he awoke, but on falling again to sleep, 
he had the same dream over again. The cause of his 
wife’s having bled to death he did not perceive, but it 
now appeared that she was actually dead from the loss 
of blood. 

On waking in the morning, he found it impossible to 
banish the deep impression which these dreams had 
made upon his mind, and soon after reaching Albany 
he received a letter summoning him to return home 
immediately, as his wife, within one hour after his 
departure, had met with a miscarriage, from which she 
had well nigh bled to death. On returning, he found, 
indeed, that she had been so very near dying, that the 
physicians and friends had given her up, supposing that 
nothing could by any means save her life. When Mr. 
P. narrated these dreams to me, he was a determined 
sceptic in clairvoyance, and he remained so, I believe, 
to the day of his death. 

Mr. Adams was murdered at 73 Chambers Street, 
New York, and in the Commercial Advertiser of that 
city, of October 11, 1841, is published an account of a 
prophetic dream which his wife had, in which the man¬ 
ner of his death was anticipated. She dreamed twice 
that her husband was murdered, and that she saw his 
body cut into pieces and packed in a box — precisely 
what was done, as was proved on the trial for the 
murder. 

The following is quoted from the London Times, of 
August 16, 1828: — 


18 


206 


PATHETISM. 


In the night of the 11th of May, 1812, Mr. Williams, 
of Scorrier House, near Redruth, in Cornwall, awoke his 
wife, and, exceedingly agitated, told her, that he had 
dreamed that he was in the lobby of the House,of 
Commons, and saw a man shoot with a pistol a gentle¬ 
man who had just entered the lobby, who was said to 
be the chancellor: to which Mrs. Williams naturally 
replied that it was only a dream, and recommended him 
to be composed, and go to sleep as soon as he could. 
He did so, and shortly after again awoke her, and said 
that he had the second time had the same dream; 
whereupon she observed, he had been so much agitated 
with his former dream, that she supposed it had dwelt 
on his mind, and begged of him to try to compose him¬ 
self, and go to sleep, which he did. A third time the 
vision was repeated; on which, notwithstanding her 
entreaties that he would be quiet, and endeavor to for¬ 
get it, he arose, it being then between one and two 
o’clock, and dressed himself. At breakfast, the dreams 
were the sole subject of conversation; and in the fore¬ 
noon Mr. Williams went to Falmouth, where he related 
the particulars of them to all of his acquaintance that 
he met. On the following day, Mr. Tucker, of Trem- 
aton Castle, accompanied by his wife, a daughter of Mr. 
Williams, went to Scorrier House about dusk. 

Immediately after the first salutations, on their en¬ 
tering the parlor, where were Mr., Mrs., and Miss Wil¬ 
liams, Mr. Williams began to relate to Mr. Tucker the 
circumstances of his dream; and Mrs. Williams ob¬ 
served to her daughter, Mrs. Tucker, laughingly, that 
her father could not even suffer Mr. Tucker to be seated, 
before he told him of his nocturnal visitation; on the 
statement of which, Mr. Tucker observed that it would 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


207 


do very well for a dream to have the chancellor in the 
lobby of the House of Commons, but that he would not 
be found there in reality; and Mr. Tucker then asked 
what sort of a man he appeared to be, when Mr. Wil¬ 
liams minutely described him; to which Mr. Tucker 
replied, “Your description is not at all that of the chan¬ 
cellor, but it is certainly very exactly that of Mr. Perce¬ 
val, the chancellor of the exchequer; and although he 
has been to me the greatest enemy I ever met with 
through life, fof a supposed cause, which had no founda¬ 
tion in truth, (or words to that effect,) I should be ex¬ 
ceedingly sorry, indeed, to hear of his being assassinated, 
or of an injury of the kind happening to him.” Mr. 
Tucker then inquired of Mr. Williams if he had never 
seen Mr. Perceval, and was told that he had never seen 
him, nor had ever even written to him, either on public 
or private business; in short, that he never had any 
thing to do with him, nor had he ever been in the lobby 
of the House of Commons in his life. While Mr. Wil¬ 
liams and Mr. Tucker were still standing, they heard a 
horse gallop to the door of the house, and immediately 
after Mr. Michael Williams of Treviner, (son of Mr. 
Williams of Scorrier,) entered the room, and said that 
he had galloped out from Truro, (from which Scorrier 
is distant seven miles,) having seen a gentleman there 
who had come by that evening’s mail from London, who 
said that he had been in the lobby of the House of 
Commons on the evening of the 11th, when a man, 
called Bellingham, had shot Mr. Perceval; and that, as 
it might occasion some great ministerial changes, and 
might affect Mr. Tucker’s political friends, he had come 
out as fast as he could, to make him acquainted with it, 
having heard at Truro that he had Dassed through that 


208 


PATHETISM. 


place on his way to Scorrier. After the astonishment 
which this intelligence had created had a little sub¬ 
sided, Mr. Williams described most particularly the 
appeara'nce and dress of the man that he saw in his 
dream fire the pistol, as he had before done of Mr. 
Perceval. About six weeks after, Mr. Williams having 
business in town, w'ent, accompanied by a friend, to the 
House of Commons, where, as has been already ob¬ 
served, he had never before been. Immediately that he 
came to the steps at the entrance of the lobby, he said, 
“ This place is as distinctly within my recollection, in 
my dream, as any room in my house; ” and he made 
the same observation when he entered the lobby. He 
then pointed out the exact spot where Bellingham stood 
when he fired, and which Mr. Perceval had reached 
when he was struck by the ball, and where and how he 
fell. The dress, both of Mr. Perceval and Bellingham, 
agreed with the descriptions given by Mr. Williams, 
even to the most minute particular. 

The Times states that Mr. Williams was then alive, 
and the witnesses, to whom he made known the partic¬ 
ulars of his dream, were also living; and that the editor 
had received the statement from a correspondent of 
unquestionable veracity. 

The following case is quoted from Dr. Abercrombie, 
who states, that “ its accuracy may be relied on in all its 
particulars.” 

Two sisters had been for some days attending their 
brother, who was suffering from a common sore throat, 
severe and protracted, but not considered dangerous. 
At this time one of the sisters had obtained the loan of 
a watch from a friend, her own being out of repair. 
As this watch was a kind of heirloom in the family of 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


209 


the lady from whom it had been borrowed, particular 
caution was given lest it should meet with some injury. 
Both of the sisters slept in a room adjoining that of the 
brother’s, and one night the elder awoke the younger in 
extreme alarm, and told her that she had dreamed that 
“Mary’s watch had stopped,” and that when she had 
told her of it, she had replied, “ Much worse than that 
had happened, for Charles’s breath had stopped also.” 
To quiet her agitation, the younger immediately arose, 
proceeded to her brother’s room, found him asleep, and 
the watch, which had been carefully put away in a 
drawer, going correctly. The following night the same 
dream occurred, accompanied by the same agitation, 
and quieted in the same manner—the brother being 
sound asleep, and the watch going. In the morning, 
after breakfast, one of these ladies having occasion to 
write a note, proceeded to her desk, while the other sat 
with her brother in the adjoining room. Having writ¬ 
ten and folded the note, she was proceeding to take out 
the watch, which was now in the desk, to use one of the 
seals appended to it, when she w~as astonished to find it 
had stopped, and at the same instant a scream from her 
sister hurried her to the bedside of her brother, who, to 
her grief, had just breathed his last. The disease was 
considered to be progressing favorably, when he was 
seized with a sudden spasm, and died of suffocation. 
The coincidence between the stoppage of the watch 
and the death of the brother, is the most perplexing 
circumstance of the case, since the mere stopping of the 
watch, or the death of the brother, might have been 
explained on very rational principles; or had the watch 
stopped before or after the death of the brother, it 
might have been easily supposed to have been forgotten 
18 * 


210 


PATHETISM. 


to be wound up; or it may have suffered some injury 
from the hurry and trepidation incidental to anguish 
and bereavement, but as the case is related, it is cer¬ 
tainly a most extraordinary, surprising, and mysterious 
incident. 

In the Life of Sir Henry Wotten, by Isaac Walton, 
there is a dream related of Sir Henry’s father, Thomas 
Wotten. A little before his death, he dreamed that the 
University of Oxford was robbed by townsmen and 
poor scholars, five in number; and being that day to 
write to his son Henry, at Oxford, he thought it worth 
so much pains as by a postscript to his letter to make a 
slight inquiry of it. The letter was written from Kent, 
and came into his son’s hands the very morning after 
the night on which the' robbery was committed ; for the 
dream was true, and the circumstances, though not in 
the exact time, and by it such light was given to this 
work of darkness that the five guilty persons were 
presently discovered and apprehended. Walton also 
says, “that Thomas Wotten, and his uncle, Nicholas 
Wotten, who was Dean of Canterbury, both foresaw 
and foretold the day of their deaths.” 

Intuition. 

I have defined this function of the human brains to 
be that function of the Wisdom Element which knows, 
and which adopts appropriate means for gratifying the 
highest wants of the organism, without reflection, rea¬ 
son, or observation. It corresponds with Instinct in the 
lower forms of vegetable and animal life. (See Theory 
of Nutrition, page 109.) This intuitive power is what 
we denominate precocity and clairvoyance. It would 
be easy to fill pages with the names of children who 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


211 


have been, hence, looked upon as prodigies, and who 
have astonished the world by the exhibition of the 
highest order of mental powers; and, formerly, such 
children were supposed to be inspired, or to be in some 
mysterious manner especially assisted of God. In my 
work on Human Nature is given what I suppose to be 
the true account of these precocious developments. 

All human knowledge depends on certain nervous 
organisms. The different organs are endowed with an 
instinctive or intuitive consciousness of the nature and 
relations of things appropriate to their functions. The 
two brains, with their appendages, constituting the 
cerebral system, combine a variety of functions, which 
are specific. The exercise of these combined functions 
make the developments to which we apply the term 
mind. 

Instinctive or intuitive knowledge is that conscious 
perception of positive or relative existence which we 
possess without experience or without ratiocination; 
and this knowledge is peculiar to all the mental organs, 
when they reach a certain degree of physical develop¬ 
ment. Hence it is, a child like Zerah Colburn or W. H. 
Safford, having those portions of the brains whose func¬ 
tions give a knowledge of the relations of space and 
numbers, sufficiently large to make a perfect develop¬ 
ment, will be able to solve mathematical problems in¬ 
tuitively, without mental labor; or as nearly so as their 
appropriate mental organs approach what may be called 
a state of perfection. 

In the head of Ole Bull, the musical organs will be 
found approaching that state, and hence the manifest 
ease with which, from a child, he was known to com¬ 
prehend the science of music. In the head of Mr. E. 


212 


PATHETISM. 


Burritt, of Worcester, Massachusetts, the organs of 
language are very largely developed; hence it is not 
true, as many have supposed, that Mr. Burritt has had 
to study and put forth as much mental labor as ordinary 
men, in learning the languages of which he has become 
the master. Similar remarks might be made of the 
heads of Locke, Newton, Franklin, and others. 

Three facts connected with this subject are interest¬ 
ing : 1. When one mental faculty is thus precociously 

developed, the person will generally be found to be 
decidedly, or equally deficient, in some other faculty. 
Thus, Mr. George Combe, certainly one of the greatest 
mental philosophers, was so deficient in his organs of 
number, that he could scarcely perform a sum that re¬ 
quired the enumeration of half a dozen figures. This 
statement I heard him make of himself. It accounts 
for the strange anomaly we so often see in the charac¬ 
ters of different persons who become distinguished for 
their talents for one thing, while they are known to be 
so very deficient in others. 2. A state of precocity is a 
state of maturity, which is the soonest followed by 
decay and death. 3. And, another fact important to be 
known follows, viz., that serious injuries are liable to be 
suffered in the nervous system, whenever this Intuitive 
or Clairvoyant Function is abnormally excited or arti¬ 
ficially called into action. Its normal exercise is not 
under the volition of any one; when it acts, its action 
is spontaneous, precisely as Instinct is. Hence, to at¬ 
tempt to excite this occult function artificially, for med¬ 
ical and other purposes, must be attended with danger. 
The mediums, or persons thus operated upon, become 
deranged in the nervous functions. They are sensitive 
and feeble. They get in the habit of falling into what 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


213 


is called the trance, but which is merely a state of 
dreaming. 

Dreams, as we have seen, may sometimes happen to 
correspond to some other similar things which we know. 
But, surely, it would not be safe or wise to rely upon 
Dreams as a source of knowledge of any thing, except 
perhaps the Pathology of dreaming. It has always 
seemed to me as if the functions of Intuition were per¬ 
verted whenever artificially excited. The instinctive 
forces of vegetables, of animals, and of men, shrink, as 
it were, from all artificial interference. They exist for 
peculiar and important purposes of their own. And 
hence, to attempt their control by artificial means is a 
perversion of Nature’s plans, which must be followed, 
sooner or later, by those interruptions, deficiencies, or 
excesses, which result always when the higher functions 
of the human constitution are in any way interfered 
with. 

This much is admitted in respect to Intuition. It is 
the genus of which clairvoyance, prophetic dreams, and 
presentiments are the species. The tree has numerous 
branches, whose fruits are beautiful to the eye and pleas¬ 
ant to the taste. But it does not thence follow that it 
is ever safe to interfere with its own times and seasons, 
or that we should ever attempt to force the fruit, or in 
any way hinder its own best processes towards maturity 
and perfection. 

Transposition of the Senses. 

The fact has been referred to, that in certain cases of 
trance, somnambulism, and catalepsy, one or each of the 
senses seems to leave the external organs, and to be 
located in other parts of the body. This is a curious 


214 


PATHETISM. 


fact, and one hardly to be accounted for upon any the¬ 
ories which make the human mind merely a function. 
I do not deny that the mental powers may be said to 
be functional; but how is it to be accounted for that 
persons do sometimes see physical objects without the 
use of the eyes ? They hear actual sounds without the 
use of the ear! And thus it would seem that the men¬ 
tal senses of sight and hearing exist, and are actually 
exercised on external objects, when the external organs 
are useless, as in a state of death. 

I have myself witnessed cases like the following, but 
I quote this because it has been before the public nearly 
twenty years. It occurred in Bologna, in 1841, and 
was reported by Drs. Viscarti, Casina, and Mazzacorati, 
at the time of its occurrence. The patient was a lady, 
aged twenty-five, who fell into cataleptic fits for the 
space of six weeks or more. 

During the first thirty days, the fit began at noon and 
ended at midnight; but afterwards, it was of less dura¬ 
tion. The patient, so long as the paroxysm lasted, pre¬ 
sented the ordinary appearances of catalepsy; that is, 
an aptness to assume and retain all manner of incon¬ 
venient and unnatural postures, and a general insensi¬ 
bility to the most forcible physical impressions. Her 
body was not capable of feeling the most forcible im¬ 
pressions, nor such as were most calculated to produce 
pain; but this was not the case with all parts. A most 
exquisite sensibility remained about the epigastric re¬ 
gion, , in the palms of her hands and the soles of her 
feet. These parts became supplementary organs of the 
senses, and through them she could receive external 
impressions, not spontaneously, but only when her at¬ 
tention was roused by the experimenters. At first, it 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


215 


was necessary to speak immediately against the parts 
that retained their sensibility; afterwards, it was suffi¬ 
cient if the speaker merely touched any one of those 
parts; and still later, it was enough if he were in com¬ 
munication, though at some distance, with the person 
who was in actual contact with those parts. She never 
spoke unless spoken to. When questioned in the man¬ 
ner described, she answered in the same tone of voice 
that was used by the one who spoke to her, either high 
or low, or very high. Her power of hearing through 
those parts was very extraordinary. If a person, touch¬ 
ing her stomach with one hand, grasped with his other 
the hand of a second person standing further off, and 
the third and fourth formed in this manner a chain, 
hand in hand, and the fourth questioned her in the low¬ 
est possible tones, she would understand perfectly, and 
reply in the same tone. The reply continued, always, 
so long as the contact was maintained with the parts 
possessing sensibility, and ceased when that contact was 
interrupted; but she would resume the discourse when 
the contact was restored, at the point to which it would 
have reached if there had been no interruption. 

Her eyes were closed the first twenty-one days; but 
to be the more assured of their inactivity, the experi¬ 
menters bound them with a handkerchief well folded, 
and yet she recognized immediately the color of differ¬ 
ent bodies that were presented to the parts having sen¬ 
sibility. She could sometimes read in this way, and 
could always tell the hour by a watch. Afterwards, it 
was not even necessary that the objects should be in 
contact with her body; she could tell them in any part 
of the room; and it was only requisite for this, that the 
experimenters who were in contact with her should 



216 


PATHETISM. 


direct her attention to the proper point. Still later, she 
recognized and described objects placed in another 
room, or in the street, or at a distance, in places that 
she had never seen. 

Being requested to give a description of a convent at 
Bologna, and of the vaults under a country house in the 
neighborhood of that city, of which neither the patient 
nor her interrogators had any knowledge, she described 
both minutely; and her description, being taken down, 
was found to correspond exactly with the facts, even 
including the number and position of the wine vessels 
in the cellars. 

She was once persuaded by a professor of the Uni¬ 
versity to name the objects that were in a certain cab¬ 
inet in the college ; she complied, and enumerated them 
exactly. She was asked what was on a certain table 
there, which was indicated to her. She said, “ A book.” 
“And what on the book?” She answered, “A brain.” 
“ What brain ? ” She said, “ That of some animal.” 
“ What animal ? ” She replied, that if he would name 
several, she could tell him which was the animal; and 
accordingly she told correctly — the animal to which 
the brain had belonged was a leopard. She declared 
that she saw distinctly; and she certainly described the 
internal organs of her own body, and those of other 
persons. Being subjected by the professor above men¬ 
tioned to an examination in anatomy, she described, 
with astonishing precision, the situation of the heart, 
the pancreas, the spinal marrow, and the nerves — their 
connections and uses. And when requested by the 
same professor to examine the internal condition of his 
female patient, who lived at some distance, she informed 
him that the disease was in her womb, and was in¬ 
curable. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


217 


The following case was first published in the Gazette 
Medicale, in 1842, and was drawn up by Dr. Duvard, 
of Paris: — 

Five weeks after the first attack of catalepsy, Mad¬ 
emoiselle Melanie fell several times into a state of nat¬ 
ural somnambulism. She would get up without opening 
her eyes, walk about her room, arrange her furniture, 
and enter into conversation with those about her, often 
mentioning circumstances which she would have wished 
to conceal; after remaining in this state for several 
hours she fell into a state of catalepsy, indicated by 
apparent suspension of the respiration and complete 
silence. 

On the 12th of October, a few days after her first 
access of somnambulism, the doctor found the patient 
in a state of catalepsy. Having placed his hand on the 
epigastric region, he noticed that her countenance be¬ 
came expressive of pain. He then placed his lips on 
the pit of her stomach, and asked her several questions; 
to his astonishment she answered correctly, for although 
he had read most of the histories of this kind recorded 
in different works, he did not believe one of them. 
During this first examination, he made numerous ex¬ 
periments, which led him to conclude that there was a 
transposition of the five senses to the pit of the stomach. 
On the evening of this day he made fresh experiments, 
during three hours, in the presence of numerous wit¬ 
nesses, who were not less surprised than himself. In a 
word, during two months, he renewed the experiments 
daily, and often several times a day, making use of 
every precaution to avoid deception, and having nu¬ 
merous witnesses around him. 

There was no sensibility in any part of the body, 
19 


218 


PATHETISM. 


except over the pit of the stomach, the palms of the 
hands, and soles of the feet. Thus he might pinch the 
skin, or pierce it with pins, pull out the hair, tickle the 
nose, &c., without eliciting any sign of feeling. On the 
contrary, if the pit of the stomach, soles of the feet, or 
palms of the hands were touched, even with the point 
of a feather, the girl immediately withdrew the part 
touched, and her countenance indicated displeasure. 
When a Leyden jar was placed in communication with 
the parts just named, she had a violent commotion, or - 
was suddenly awakened, but the jar might be discharged 
on any other part of the body without producing the 
slightest effect. 

The ears appeared to be insensible to sound; the 
loudest noise did not attract her attention; but when a 
small bell was agitated over the sensitive parts, her 
countenance showed she heard the noise. If the lips 
were placed in contact with the sensitive parts, she 
heard every thing that was said, although the voice was 
so low that it could not possibly reach her ears. Her 
answers were delivered in an exceedingly low tone, 
and, generally speaking, the person appointed to catch 
them would repeat them without hearing the question 
asked. The patient never spoke, except when her 
limbs were in a state of relaxation; during the rapid 
cataleptic state, the tongue and organs of speech were 
immovable. 

Taste and smell were not exercised by their natural 
organs, but were very acute in the sensitive parts. 
Thus they filled the nose with assafoetida or tobacco; 
placed bottles of ether, concentrated ammonia, &c., 
under the nose, without producing the least effect; but 
when a small portion of a sapid body was placed in 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


219 


contact with the sensitive parts, the patient distin¬ 
guished it at once. Thus she recognized and named, 
one after another, the sirups of poppies, vinegar, gum, 
and capillaire, wine, water, orange flower water, Seid- 
litz water, currant jelly, &c., although only one or two 
drops of each substance was placed on the palm of her 
hand. When a few grains of snuff were placed on the 
sole of her foot, she sneezed at once, and thus easily 
distinguished French snuff from English snuffy 

Although the results of the first experiments induced 
the doctor to think the sense of vision was transposed, 
as well as other senses, subsequent trials showed that 
what he had regarded as vision was nothing more than 
an exquisite sense of touch. When an object was 
placed on any of the sensitive points, and she was asked 
if she saw it, she answered, “Yes,” and immediately 
named the object, if she was acquainted with it, or if 
not, gave a correct description of the body. Thus she 
always detected a watch, when placed over the pit of 
the stomach, and never failed to tell whether it was 
made of gold or silver, going or stopping. If asked the 
hour, she would answer pretty correctly as to the true 
time of day; but if the hands of the watch were de¬ 
signedly changed, she always failed to tell the time they 
marked. She could distinguish and name every kind 
of French coin placed in her hand, but not the name of 
the sovereign in whose reign they were struck; she 
could distinguish a bit of silk from a bit of cloth, but 
not their respective colors. 

At the second sitting, she succeeded in spelling the 
word commerce , written in large letters, and placed 
upon the pit of the stomach; this required considerable 
effort, and she complained for a long time of fatigue; 


220 


PATHETISM. 


in subsequent experiments, however, she was never 
able to distinguish any of the letters of the alphabet, 
when placed in contact with sensitive parts. Whenever 
asked to point out the seat of her disease, and indicate 
the appropriate remedies, she refused — answering that 
such was the doctor’s business, and not hers. 

I have seen the foregoing account published in the 
London Medico-Chirurgical Review, New York Lancet, 
and other medical works, without a word of doubt. 

It is true that the sense of feeling, as in the case of 
Laura Bridgman, may be exquisitely developed. This 
lady, as will be remembered, was both deaf and blind, 
but I have seen her readily thread a fine cambric needle 
with her tongue. And, in the use of this sense, she 
would distinguish her own and other persons’ clothing, 
the whole being done by the sense of feeling, abnor¬ 
mally cultivated in her case, so as in a measure to act 
as a substitute for the sense of sight. But here there 
was no transposition, as there seems to have been cer¬ 
tainly in the other cases I have here described. And if 
there be a clairvoyant faculty in the human organism 
which does sometimes see without the eyes, and hear 
without the ears, there is nothing unreasonable in the 
admission that this sense may, by disease, become 
located in the nerves of feeling , and transposed from 
one part of the body to another. These cases, however, 
are very rare ; and we do not yet know enough of them 
to be able to determine any theory for their solution. 
Is the clairvoyant function, like sight, dependent on a 
special physical organ ? Or, is it like memory ? Or, is 
it common to each of the Intellectual Faculties ? 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


221 


Clairvoyance. 

Having explained what is meant by this term, let us 
now proceed in the details of a few cases, which demon¬ 
strate the existence of this Intuitive function. Like 
other functions of the nervous system, this is manifested 
in various degrees of development, down from Intuition, 
as in the case of Zschokke and others, described in 
these pages, to what does not seem to rise above the 
exercise of ordinary sagacity. Real clairvoyance, as we 
have seen, occurs in dreams, and I may add, also, in 
cases of mild insanity. When manifested in a state of 
trance, it has numerous degrees and phases: — 

1. Such cases as result from sympathy, when the pa¬ 
tient is in sympathetic communication with another 
person; he becomes cognizant of what is passing in 
another mind (to a certain extent) and describes what 
appertains to him. 2. At other times, persons entranced 
will describe, by this sense alone, places and objects 
wholly unknown to the operator or any other person 
present. This is sometimes called “ independent clair¬ 
voyance.” But all real clairvoyance is knowledge 
acquired independently of the external senses. 

The following are a few of the - cases of undoubted 
clairvoyance, which I have myself witnessed, together 
with some fully authenticated by others competent to 
judge of such matters. 

The following note was written in a very fine hand, 
on scarlet paper, seven inches long and five wide. The 
paper was folded, and doubled up in Miss Ann E. Hall’s 
right hand, with a penknife which I gave her to hold. 
And, while holding it thus tightly in her hand, she read 
all of it except the name, which is included in paren- 
19 * 


222 


PATHETISM. 


theses, and this she noticed, and stated that she did not 
perceive what was included in parentheses distinctly. 
This occurred on the 12th of June, 1845, at the house 
of Dr. Murphy, in Newport, Rhode Island, who was 
present with his wife and family. Also, Dr. Gallup, Mrs. 
Callahan, A. A. Whittemore, of Wilinot, New Hamp¬ 
shire, and .numerous other persons: — 

“Boston, May 15, 1845. 

“ Dr. Sunderland : Sir: One of Dr. Hewitt’s patients (Isaac Bry¬ 
ant) having seen your name in yesterday’s paper, is very anxious to be 
put to sleep. If you will pay him a visit and attevipt to do it, he is 
ready to pay you your usual price. In his behalf, J. Rounsville. 

“ 14 Summer Street.” 

It is, indeed, difficult to imagine how she could dis¬ 
cover the contents of a paper which was crumpled 
tightly in her hand at the time she read it. 

The case of Miss Loriana Brackett, of Providence, 
Rhode Island, is well known, and one of the most re¬ 
markable and satisfactory upon record. She was blind, 
(age, seventeen,) and being highly susceptible, she was 
easily entranced, and in this state she read, during the 
night of August 27, 1837, the following sentence, which 
was not only written, but it was covered with a card, 
and the whole enveloped in thick blue paper, and her¬ 
metically sealed: — 

“No other than the eye of Omnipotence can read this, in this envel¬ 
opment—1837.” 

This sentence was written in Troy, New York, sealed, 
and sent on to Mr. Thurber, for Miss Brackett, in Prov¬ 
idence, by Mr. Stephen Covell, for the purpose of testing 
the power of clairvoyance. Colonel W. L. Stone, then 
editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser, was 
present in Providence at the time, and vouches for 
these facts; and in his paper, a few days after, he pub¬ 
lished the account, not only of Miss Brackett’s having 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


223 


read the above while entranced, but that she also read 
part of a sentence in that state, which he himself had 
written, as follows : — 

“ The following is a title, equally amazing (or amusing, Miss Brackett 
don’t know which) and quaint, of a book published in England, in the 
time of Oliver Cromwell : 

“ Eggs of Charity .” 

The entire sentence written by Colonel Stone, from 
which Miss Brackett read the above, was this : — 

“The following is [the] title equally (quaint and) amusing, of a book 
which was published in England in the time of Oliver Cromwell: — 

“Eggs of Charity, [( layed by the chickens of the covenant, and boiled 
by the waters of Divine Love. Take ye and eat.’’)] 

The parts of the sentence which she failed to read 
are enclosed in parentheses. 

The first sentence was read and returned to Mr. 
Covell, in Troy, New York, without being opened, as 
his letter to Colonel Stone, published in the Commer¬ 
cial Advertiser of September, 1837, will show: — 

“ Troy, N. Y., Sept. 1, 1837. 

“ The sentence had been written by a friend, and sealed by him, at 
his request, and in such a manner as was supposed could not be read 
by any human device, without breaking the seals. We think the seals 
have not been broken until returned. The sentence, as read by Miss 
Brackett , is, ' No other but the eye of Omnipotence can read this, in 
this envelopment .’ And, as written in the original, on a card, and an¬ 
other card placed on the face of the writing, and enclosed in a thick 
blue paper envelope, was, * No other than the eye of Omnipotence can 
read this , in this envelope .’ Troy, New York, August, 1837. 

“Yours, &c., Stephen Covell.” 

Miss Brackett was for some time in the Asylum for 
the Blind, in Boston, and her case, at the time, excited 
a great deal of attention, we may say, throughout the 
country. It is worthy of remark, that she fixed on the 
night for reading these papers, as this power seems to 
have been more active during the repose of natural 
sleep, as it was in the case of Miss Hall, and numerous 
other clairvoyants whom I have known. 


224 


PATELETISM. 


Miss Mary Jane Mason was one of this class. In 
Aj^ril, 1846, I received from my brother, James W. 
Sunderland, then Professor of Mathematics and Nat¬ 
ural Philosophy in the 0‘Fallon University, St. Louis, a 
letter, dated March 18, 1846. It covered a letter sheet 
entire, and the date had been altered from the 17th to 
the 18th of March. After reading the letter myself, 
without showing it, or “making it known to any other 
person, I resealed it, then hermetically enclosed it in 
glazed paper, and sealed it with gum. It could not be 
opened without tearing, or changing the glazing on the 
paper. There was no writing upon the outside, nor any 
indication given to the clairvoyant, as to what was con¬ 
tained in the envelope. I gave it to her, simply re¬ 
questing her to dream what was in it. She did so, and 
in the presence of my family, before the package was 
broken open, she read the letter, noticed the peculiarity 
in the date, and gave me its contents, from the begin¬ 
ning to near the close, omitting a paragraph which had 
been written on one of the folds. Had there been any 
means by which she could have taken off the envelope, 
there were none by which she could have resealed it. 
My seal was unbroken, and hence I knew that she could 
not have obtained any knowledge of the contents of 
that letter, except by clairvoyance. 

Miss Hall, referred to above, has written numerous 
pieces of poetry, letters, and articles on Patlietism, 
while entranced, and without the use of her external 
eyes. Some of them she wrote with her eyes bandaged, 
and in the presence of numerous witnesses. The fol¬ 
lowing composition was written by her, in the dark, 
while entranced, during the night. She was then 
about eighteen, and was visiting her relation, Mr. J. G. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


225 


Hathaway, in Fall River, Massachusetts, who, with his 
wife and family, may be referred to as witnesses of the 
truth of what is here stated. It has been common for 
my patients, in different parts of the country, in re¬ 
sponse to my directions, when in a state of trance, to 
dream about any given subject, of which I wished to 
know. Accordingly I had requested “Libby,” as she 
was familiarly called, to dream, and tell me something I 
wished to know of one of my own children, who was 
at a distance. That part of the composition in brackets 
is addressed to me, and the poetry she puts into my 
mouth as if it had been addressed to her by myself, 
while she was dreaming in her trance, in obedience to 
my directions. 

“ Some gentle spirit come, and instruct me in your art. Lend me 
your harp, and guide the sacred flight. Let me imitate your devout 
strains! Let me copy out your Harmony! Blessed and Immortal 
creatures ! I long to join with you, in your celestial style of adoration. 
I long to leani your ecstasies of worship, in a language which mortals 
cannot pronounce, and to speak the Divine passion of my soul. 

“ Let me explore the words of life and beauty, and find a path to the 
receases of the Most High! Till then, I pine for my celestial coun¬ 
try. I am just upon the shores of those happy realms where ’tis unin¬ 
terrupted day, and eternal spring. Yonder, on the celestial hills and 
harmonious vales which continually echo to the song of angels, — there 
the blessed fields extend their verdure, and the immortal groves ascend. 
Hold out, faith and patience a little while, and your work is done,— 
but a few moments, and these sighs and groans will be converted into 
everlasting hallelujahs, — a few weary steps, and the journey of life 
wdl be finished. For the toils of virtue I shall immediately receive its 
vast rewards—for the reproaches of fools, the honor and applause of 
angels. I shall range the boundless ether, and breathe the balmy air 
of Paradise. Hasten the glad hour, when angels shall bear me on¬ 
ward to glory! 

[“ And, while thou art standing beside me. methinks I can hear thee 
whisper to me, in tones of sweetest music, * What dost thou say to me, 
in the silent hour of midnight ? ’ 

‘ Sleep on, and dream of Heaven a while, 

To shut so close thy laughing eyes; 

Thy rosy lips shall wear a smile, 

And move, and breathe delicious sighs. 

‘Ah, now soft blushes tinge her cheek, 

And mantle o’er her neck of snow; 

Ah, now she murmurs, now she speaks 
What most I wish and fear to know. 


226 


PATHETISM. 


‘ She starts, she trembles, and she weeps, 

Her fair hands folded on her breast, 

And now, how like a saint she sleeps, 

A seraph in the realms of rest. 

‘ Sleep on ! secure, above control, 

Thy thoughts belong to Heaven and thee; 

And may the secret of thy soul 
Remain within its sanctuary.’ 

u Are these thy words ? Who taught them to thee ? Didst thou ever 
think thy thoughts aloud before ? I remember what you told me to 
dream, but I cannot endure it. Blame me not.” 

The next day, when she came to my office, with her 
aunt, she handed me the paper on which the above 
was written. But, as I did not see her write it, I ex¬ 
amined her while entranced, to find out how and when 
it was done. She said she wrote it with a pencil, while 
asleep the night previous, and without light, or table to 
write upon. And, to see whether she could possibly 
write without the use of her eyes, I immediately ban¬ 
daged them so closely that I knew she could not use 
them. This was done at the house, and in the presence 
of, Dr. Cheever, in Fall River, Massachusetts, Mr. J. G. 
Hathaway and wife, Mr. A. A. Whittemore, of Wilmot, 
New Hampshire, and others. On being furnished with 
a piece of ruled paper, she wrote with a pen seven 
lines, and each line upon the ruled lines of the paper, 
as follows: — 

“ Fall River, June 22, 1845. 

“ Dear Margaret : To you I must devote a few moments in writ¬ 
ing. Ever since our first introduction, I have loved and prayed for 
you; and have felt assured you would do the same in return. I was 
happy to hear from you to-day. And have you missed me since I have 
been away ? ” 

Having written this much, I interrupted and stopped 
her, supposing it might injure her to keep her mind so 
long excited. But the company who witnessed the 
operation were perfectly satisfied as to the reality of 
vision without the eye, in the case of this young lady, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


227 


as I myself had often been before, and very many times 
since. 

The following is from another letter, written by this 
young lady in the dark, when entranced. It is written 
on the lines (twenty) of the paper, and, lik8 the other 
writing, is in a plain, legible hand: — 

“ Troy, N. Y., Sept. 16, 1845. 

“ To my dear Sisters : Two weeks have nearly passed since I 
last addressed you. You will, I flatter myself, be anxiously expecting 
to hear from me, your absent sister. I have thought very often about 
you of late, especially yesterday, which was Sabbath day. When I 
retired to my room, I felt happy, yet the unbidden tear would flow down 
my cheeks, notwithstanding my efforts to resist; but you cannot know, 
dear sisters, how very well and happy I have been while here; as Mr. 
Sunderland says, ‘you have nothing to do but take comfort,’ and 
‘ live on milk and honey.’ And now, after being away from home a 
few weeks, I am about ready to return, although Mr. Sunderland has 
not concluded his lectures in Troy yet. Mr. Whittemore is a little 
homesick, and wants to go home to see his deary after so long a time, 
and so I am going with him to New’ York, and then to Providence. I 
shall probably get home Friday or Saturday ; won’t that be nice ! You 
will look for me, I think, with great pleasure. If we should not get 
there the last of this week, you may expect me there first of next. 

“Ann Elizabeth Hall.’’ 

Miss Jane C. Ryder exhibited independent clairvoy¬ 
ant powers for nearly a year, in Springfield and Worces¬ 
ter, in 1833 and 1834. She was seventeen years old 
when she first became somnambulic, and her powers 
soon attracted the attention of large numbers of intelli¬ 
gent and scientific gentlemen, who visited her during 
the time. A full account of this most extraordinary 
case w'as drawn up by her attending physician, Dr. L. 
W. Belden, and published by G. & C. Merriam, Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, in 1834. Dr. Belden declares, that 
during her spells of somnambulism, while in the dark , 
and with her eyes bandaged , so that it was impossible 
for her to use them at all, she performed different kinds 
of housework, threaded needles , sewed, told the time 
accurately by different watches , wrote letters , and read. 


228 


PATHETISar. 


not a word of one sentence merely, but at one time she 
read the whole (three pages) of Bryants Thanatopsis , 
with propriety. Dr. Belden’s account is confirmed by 
the testimonies of the Hon. W. B. Calhoun, Rev. W. B. 
O. Peabody, Dr. John Stone, Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood, 
Dr. M. B. Baker, all of Springfield, and Dr. S. B. Wood¬ 
ward, under whose care Miss Ryder was placed, at the 
Worcester Hospital for the Insane. It was a clear and 
convincing case of vision , in repeated instances, without 
the eye. 

Some of the most satisfactory instances of sympa¬ 
thetic clairvoyance that I ever witnessed were devel¬ 
oped in Hew York, from Miss Mary Mattocks, who was 
totally blind. Feeling a deep and lively interest in the 
subject, at my suggestion Mr. R. Peale, then proprietor 
of the Hew York Museum, called a meeting of physi¬ 
cians, clergymen, and other scientific gentlemen, to test 
this power, numbering about forty in all. The first 
seance was held at the Museum, then located in Broad¬ 
way, opposite the Park, September 8, 1841. The ex¬ 
periments were conducted under the inspection and 
direction of a committee, and the results were written 
down at the time by one. of the committee, and 
published in the Hew York Watchman for Hovem- 
ber 6, 1841. 

The patient was twenty-three, and had been perfectly 
blind from the time she was six weeks old, her eyesight 
having been destroyed by accident. 

To render the proceedings more satisfactory, a com¬ 
mittee was appointed to determine on the order of pro¬ 
ceeding, and to see that there could be no collusion 
between the operator and the patient. 

On being entranced, a stranger was put in communi- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


229 


cation with her. In answer to the questions put to her, 
she stated his name, (Eddy,) and the number of his 
residence, (17 Park Place.) A card was held over her 
head; she told what it was, and pronounced the name 
(Stewart) written upon it correctly. 

A piece of paper was placed over her head, which 
had the following letters prominently upon it: A, H, 
O, R, S, V, Z. She pronounced all the letters except 
one. The followjpg figures were next read: 1, 8, 4, 7, 

8, 0, 6. A piece of paper, with a red wafer, was held 
over her head. She was asked what color the thing 
was, and answered, “Red.” 

A vial was handed by one of the committee to the 
oj^erator. When he had tasted the liquid in it, Mary 
made up quite a wry face. She was questioned, and 
answered as follows: “What is the matter, Mary?” 
“It tastes sour.” “What is it?” “Vinegar.” The 
vial contained vinegar. 

The operator irritated his hand with a knife. She 
threw her hand about, and manifested considerable un¬ 
easiness. 

One of the committee took her bonnet, and putting it 
on his head, stepped behind her. On being asked, she 
told who it was that stood behind her, as also what he 
had on his head, and to whom it belonged. An alma¬ 
nac was held over her head. “ What is this, Mary ? ” 
“An almanac.” “What is its date?” “1842.” This 
was correct. The almanac was just from the press, pre¬ 
pared for the next year. “ What kind of almanac is 
it ? ” “ Phrenological.” “ What is on the first page ? ” 

“ Picture of a man’s head.” She was shown a part of 
a newspaper, and read a part of its name. 

One of the committee took a finger ring from Dr. 

20 


230 


PATHETISM. 


Lee, and handed it to the operator. “What is this, 
Mary?” “A ring” “To whom does it belong?” 
“To Dr. Lee.” Dr. Lee said it was not his; but Pro¬ 
fessor Mapes had said to the operator that it belonged 
to Dr. Lee. 

A cane was held over her head. “ What is this, 
Mary?” “A cane.” “To whom does it belong?” 
“ To Mr. V.” “ What are the letters on the end of it ? ” 
“ J. V.” 

This was true. Another cane was presented to her. 

“ To whom does this belong, Mary ? ” “ R-.” The 

letter “ R ” was all that could be heard in this answer. 
The cane belonged to Mr. Reed. 

A number of watches were presented. “ What is 
this, Mary?” “A watch.” “What time is it by this 
watch, Mary?” “Twenty minutes past eight.” The 
watch had stopped at that hour. “What time is it by 
this watch?” “Half past ten.” This answer was 
correct. 

She was now seated at the piano. The operator, 
without touching her, reversed the passes over those 
portions of the brain appropriated to tune. “ Mary, I 
want you to play this tune for me.” “ I can’t play it.” 
“I want you to play this, Mary; you know it is a great 
favorite of mine.” “ I would play it if I could; but I 
can’t think of the air.” “ Can you repeat the words to 
me?” “O yes.” “Well, repeat them.” “My sister, 
dear,” &c., (repeating the verse.) 

And while she was repeating the verse the operator 
made passes over the organs of tune, without touching 
her, and while doing this she commenced playing, and 
sung, “My sister, dear,” &c. While she was singing 
this, he reversed the passes over her head for the pur- 



PHILOSOPHICAL. 


231 


pose of waking her up. She ceased playing, and, as if 
awake, in her natural state, answered whatever ques¬ 
tions were put to her by one of the spectators. While 
he was conversing with her, the operator, (unknown to 
her,) pathetized her head, and she immediately began 
where she left off in the last tune. 

Cases where extraordinary powers of somnambulism 
have been exhibited are quite numerous, and many 
such occur where there is no real demonstration of what 
is called “ vision without the eye.” The following cases 
come under the head of “Spontaneous Trance,” where 
no artificial means were used to develop this power. 

I had the account of the first one from Deacon H. 
Moody, of Hallo well, Maine, where it occurred in 1788. 
He was a resident of the family where the patient (a 
young lady of eighteen) lived at the time. Deacon 
Moody (letter of May 1, 1843) says, — 

“We could not make the room so dark in very dark, stormy nights, 
with the shutters drawn tight, and no light in the adjoining room, but 
what she could read in any book, in English, with as much ease and 
correctness, or tell the time by the watch, turned backward and forward 
to any hour, as readily as she could in the daytime, with a bright sun. 

“ It was noticed that she would never read in one particular book, 
and a neighbor, with the view of detecting what he supposed to be de¬ 
ception, cut out a paragraph from that book, and pasted it into a pam¬ 
phlet ; this pamphlet he then put with half a dozen others, and handed 
the whole to her, without her knowing what he had done. She took 
them, and on coming to the one which had the extract in it, she in¬ 
stantly threw it aside. He then retired, and cut out one word, and 
pasting it into another, put it with the number,,and again requested her 
to read a paragraph from each. But she instantly detected the pam¬ 
phlet into which the word had been pasted. He then cut out one letter 
only, and pasting it into one of the pamphlets as before, she detected 
that one without opening it, and cast it from her as before. 

“ A lock of her hair was cut off, and taken into another room. On 
its being put into the fire she perceived it, and manifested much pain 
and uneasiness. Though she often went out among the neighbors 
while in a state of Trance, there was one direction, in which, if she 
started,to go, she was immediately restored to consciousness.” 

Mr. L. Collins, of East Bloomfield, Hew Jersey, in a 
letter to me, describes the case of his own brother, who, 


232 


PATHETISM. 


while in a state of spontaneous Trance, would write 
poetry, and long letters, in a room perfectly dark. He 
invariably wrote in straight lines, crossed his t’s and 
dotted his i’s. He would often tell what a sister and 
brother-in-law were doing, and where they were, when 
several hundred miles off. They were travelling for the 
health of his brother-in-law, and the brother, while in 
his reveries, would tell the state of the health of the 
invalid. His statements, though many and often, were 
always found correct. This was in 1827. 

In these cases, we have “ vision without the eye ,” 
certainly, and, authenticated as they are, they would 
seem sufficient to put the existence of such a power, 
in certain conditions of the human body, beyond all 
doubt. 

Thus far in respect to the fact of this intuitive power, 
known under the name of clairvoyance. This fact ad¬ 
mitted, it enables us to account for Pathematic results, 
hitherto attributed to the will power of the operator; 
as the patient thus becomes cognizant of the operator’s 
wishes by this clairvoyant sense similarly, it may be, as 
the dog becomes cognizant of the footsteps of his dis¬ 
tant master. Nor is it strange, perhaps, that a power 
so startling should, when once proved beyond all doubt, 
be over-estimated, perverted, and turned to unjustifiable 
uses, as clairvoyance has been, and as it will be for time 
to come, until Nature’s laws are better understood. 

And while something must be allowed as to the 
means of investigation for scientific purposes, it may be 
a matter of grave doubt whether an occult function of 
the nervous system like intuition, should ever be abnor¬ 
mally excited, or goaded into daily and hourly action, 
as is often done, under the names of Clairvoyance and 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


233 


Psychometiy. We can admit, if need be, that most of 
the persons employed in this business are honest people, 
and that the so-called mediums have, at times, given 
examinations and prescriptions, with which the sick 
have been more or less satisfied. This may be easily 
accounted for, — 

1. When an invalid is in a state of mind favorable 
for relying upon such examinations of his case, he is 
quite likely to take numerous things for granted, of 
which there is not sufficient evidence to satisfy a care¬ 
ful and skilful physician. The patient’s peculiar feel¬ 
ings may be correctly sympathized in by the medium, 
but these feelings do not determine the real nature or 
the location of disease; and they can be of no reliable 
account in prescribing, except as they are correctly 
interpreted by science and sound philosophy. 

2. When the medium and the patient are both igno¬ 
rant as to the Pathology of the case, there can be no 
reliable diagnosis. Hence, whatever account of the 
disease may be given, the patient does not, and, it may 
be, he cannot, know whether the diagnosis be correct 
or not. And thus it is reports may be made of “ clair¬ 
voyant” examinations, and of cures made by mediums, 
when there is no evidence to prove either of the fol¬ 
lowing points, viz.: — 

(1.) That the patient actually had the complaints 
alleged by the clairvoyant. (2.) That either the patient 
or the medium knew what the matter was. (3.) That 
there was any clairvoyance in the examination at 
all. Or, (4.) That the patient was actually cured by 
the prescription which the medium made for him. 
The sick often recover without any prescription, or any 
medicine at all. (5.) It is decidedly against the reli- 
20 * 


231 


PATHETISM. 


ability of this business, that the mediums and clairvoy¬ 
ants always and every where favor some one of the 
prevalent notions in respect to “pills,” “sirups,” “pow¬ 
ders,” nostrums, drugs and drugging. Indeed, these 
mediums ask for patronage on this very consideration, 
that they prescribe according to some given theory of 
“roots and herbs.” 

It may, indeed, be an easy matter for a medium to 
satisfy the sick, as it is well said tha^ we patronize and 
rely upon the doctor only in proportion as we lack con¬ 
fidence in ourselves. But, whether or not the mediums 
do or can know any thing of the Pathology of the case 
or not, is another question altogether. In all cases, if 
you wish to rely upon clairvoyance, let that power be 
first tested . Ask the medium to tell you what you hold 
in your hand, out of sight, and of which object you 
have yourself no definite knowledge. You may know 
that you have something in your hand, but, not know¬ 
ing what, see if this medium can tell. And, if he can¬ 
not tell, will you trust your life on the diagnosis of such 
a medium as that ? If the medium be unable to tell 
you in respect to the less, will you rely upon him in the 
great matter of health and life ? 

Having myself abundantly tested this function of 
clairvoyance, when carried on as a matter of business, 
the conviction has been forced upon my mind that this 
term is often wofully misapplied. It is generally asso¬ 
ciated with “mediumship,” or a state of trance; and 
hence it has come to pass, that wherever and whenever 
a person is said to be “ entranced,” it is taken at once 
for granted that he must of course be clairvoyant. But 
this is, indeed, a great mistake, as I am inclined to 
believe. I do not suppose that one person, in a thou- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


235 


sand cases of trance, will be found to be really clair¬ 
voyant. And even if one should evince clairvoyance at 
one time, it does not follow that he will evince that 
power again. We take too many things for granted in 
this matter. The fact of clairvoyance should never be 
taken for granted. Test the power always, similarly as 
the chemists do the presence of certain bodies in chem¬ 
istry. If a clairvoyant or a medium be utterly unable 
to tell you what you are holding at the time in your 
hand, how Can you safely rely upon that clairvoyant, 
when he assumes to describe to you objects of which 
you yourself know nothing? 

I have supposed that the function of clairvoyance 
appertained entirely to the wants of the organism in 
which it is developed , and its legitimate exercise is spon¬ 
taneous, never artificial. Hence, to tax this function of 
the nervous system as many have done, is an unnatural 
perversion, and must be attended with more or less 
injury to the organisms on which these experiments are 
performed. The persons may not, in every instance, by 
necessarily injured; but they are in danger of injury, 
especially when the nervous system is drawn upon from 
day to day, for the purposes of examining and pre¬ 
scribing for disease. It is like finding a diamond: the 
ignorant multitudes go to the place and look again and 
again, hoping to find another, because one diamond has 
been found there. So, a person happens to evince the 
function of clairvoyance, and one real case of undoubted 
clairvoyance excites marvellousness to an enormous 
degree, and hence people who know no better imagine 
that because a person may have been clairvoyant in 
respect to one particular thing, he must therefore be 
clairvoyant in respect to “disease,” “lost property,” 
“ spirits,” and any and all things else. 


236 


PATHET1SM. 


A clairvoyant makes one or two successful cures, and 
he succeeds more by the patient’s faith than by any 
real clairvoyance, either of the disease or the remedy 
they prescribed. When the organs of marvellousness 
and of hope are excited, as they generally are in persons 
who consult clairvoyants, the patient in all such cases is 
in a plastic condition,— a state favorable and disposing 
the system to recovery, whatever may be the remedy 
prescribed. Hence, if the remedy be not positively 
injurious, it does not make much difference what it is; 
it may be “sirup,” “pills,” or “powders,” Allopathic, 
Homoeopathic, or Thomsonian, — it will all be the same. 

Clairvoyance is true, and because it is a function of 
the human organism, it does not follow that it can be 
relied upon for all the purposes to which it is liable to 
be perverted. Those who have read Dr. Atkinson and 
Miss Martineau’s work, will have noticed how much 
they have relied upon clairvoyance for determining the 
organs of the brains and their functions. Indeed, 
Dr. Atkinson has announced the discovery of new 
organs by the aid of clairvoyance alone. His clairvoy¬ 
ant told him so, he believed it, and said it is so, because 
it was so affirmed by the clairvoyant. But the doctor 
did not see that he was admitting too much. If his 
clairvoyant had said that he saw a “ spirit,” how much 
would he have believed of that ? The truth is, I have 
known numerous good clairvoyants, who said they saw 
objectively , when I knew that all they saw was sub¬ 
jective in their own brains. People who consult clair¬ 
voyants in respect to things no one knows or can know, 
should remember that there is a possibility of being 
deceived. For the want of this precaution, multitudes 
have been most essentially duped, and made to believe 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


237 


many things, which further investigation has proved 
had nothing but gullibility for their foundation. 

There are numerous cases where a person, who has 
perhaps never exercised clairvoyant power more than 
once or twice, and these two or three successful cases 
have so much excited their friends and neighbors, that 
the clairvoyant goes on examining and prescribing for 
diseases, while he evinces no real clairvoyance. Thus 
the practice of drugging is kept up until the so-called 
clairvoyant “gets the hang” of “examining and pre¬ 
scribing ; ” and thus an aptness is acquired for treating 
the sick, which passes for clairvoyance, when it is not 
susceptible of proof that there is the first particle of 
clairvoyance in the practice from beginning to end. 

And a similar remark may be made of fortune telling. 
Any shrewd person can “ tell fortunes,” where there is 
a corresponding degree of gullibility. It is true that an 
experimental knowledge of nature’s laws will enable 
any one to anticipate more or less of future events — 
that is, such events as come within the control of these 
laws. In this way, we calculate the motion of the tides 
and the heavenly bodies. In this way we calculate the 
probable tendencies of things — of disease as well as 
human character. But, to “tell fortunes,” to designate 
a future marriage, the birth of children, and the period 
of one’s death, in the manner these things are said to 
be done by clairvoyance, is so preposterously absurd, 
that we marvel how people can believe it. Nor is this 
species of gullibility confined to young maidens, and 
maidens not young, who have an itching curiosity to 
pry into the future. “ Children of a larger growth ” 
rely upon the Moll Pitchers in all parts of the country. 
And such is the zeal with which they seek the fortune 


238 


PATHETISM. 


teller, and such the confidence with which they rely on 
these worthless oracles, that it does seem as if the peo¬ 
ple had a love of being cheated. And hence it is, that 
persons have always been found more willing to pay for 
being deceived than for having the cheat exposed. 

Thought Reading. 

Can mere thought be transferred from one mind to 
another? My answer to this question is: a good clair¬ 
voyant may read the thoughts of another under given 
circumstances. Some of the conditions I have already 
described. In such cases, we may call it a “ transfer; ” 
but, correctly speaking, perhaps, we should say, that no 
substance is really transferred. Clairvoyance is the 
power by which the patient becomes cognizant of the 
thoughts of the operator. Any one may make any 
amount of efforts to transmit his mere thoughts, and he 
will fail, except under the conditions I have mentioned. 
When these conditions are fulfilled, results have come 
to pass which have been called a transfer of thought, 
but as I have said, it depends almost wholly upon the 
clairvoyant sense, and not upon the volition of the 
operator. 

I have mentioned the case of the blind lady in New 
York, Miss Mattocks, who was exhibited at Peale’s 
Museum, in 1841. And I must now refer to it again, 
for the purpose of describing a series of phenomena, 
which I suppose have scarcely, if ever, been paralleled 
in the history of clairvoyance. They were tested by 
large numbers of people, among whom were many gen¬ 
tlemen well known in scientific circles. And, as I have 
said, what made the case of this lady the more interest¬ 
ing and satisfactory, was the fact of her total blindness, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


230 


her eyes having been destroyed by accident when only 
six weeks old. Sight therefore in her case with the eyes 
was a physical impossibility. And yet she did see and 
accurately describe physical objects, without the sense 
of hearing, feeling, taste, or smell. 

She was first entranced by Mr. Reuben Peale, and 
after a while she had become so very susceptible that 
she could read the thoughts of any one who came near 
to her for that purpose. At my instance, a series of 
meetings were held at the Museum during the summer 
and fall of 1841, composed principally of the medical 
profession, for the purpose of testing this clairvoyant 
power of thought reading. And under the vigilant 
inspection of committees appointed by these meetings, 
the results here described were performed, some by 
myself, and others by the committees who were put in 
communication with Mary for this purpose. Collusion 
was impossible, and by the arrangements made and the 
precautions taken for conducting these tests, the fact of 
sympathetic clairvoyance and thought reading was 
demonstrated and put beyond all doubt. The tests to 
which reference is here made were as follows: — 

I. Clairvoyance through the sense of feeling. When 
entranced, the clairvoyant power was active through 
the sense of touch. Thus : — 

1. Any stranger taking hold of Mary’s hand, she 
would readily know his name, and describe his thoughts. 

2. A dozen different articles, such as handkerchiefs, 
keys, pencils, scissors, papers, &c., put into Mary’s lap 
by as many different persons, all strangers to her, by the 
sense of feeling she would designate the person to 
whom each article belonged. These were common 
experiments, in which she scarcely ever failed. 


240 


PATHETISM. 


3. Any article sent to Mary from a distance would 
bring on the trance. Thus, when sixty or a hundred 
feet from her, I could not make her conscious of my 
wishes by a mere volition; but, if I sent her a piece of 
paper, she would recognize it as coming from me. 

II. Sympathetic Clairvoyance , without the use of 
either of her external senses. Thus: — 

1. In my mind, she read words, sentences, and ac¬ 
curately described any objects, persons, or places which 
occupied my own thoughts. These things she did in¬ 
stantly and daily for a year or more, and they were 
witnessed by hundreds, and I may say thousands of 
people, who visited the New York Museum for this very 
purpose. And many of these persons were “put in 
communication ” with her, whose thoughts she read and 
accurately described in the manner I have stated. 

2. She was clairvoyant of my emotions and states of 
mind, without any distinct volition on my part. If a 
pin or a knife were thrust into her own body, she did 
not notice it; but if I imagined any pain in my own 
person, she felt it instantly as a reality; and she was 
similarly affected when in communication with any one 
who was a stranger to her. 

3. Mary’s muscular system obeyed my volition. She 
would rise, walk, dance, and put her limbs in any given 
position upon which I fixed my own mind. Nay more, 
by mere volition, I caused her muscular system to be¬ 
come rigid and cataleptic, as if more under the con¬ 
trol of my will than it was under her own, for the time 
being. 

4. In Mary the fDllowing complicated results were 
performed. When entranced, I have times without 
number caused her — and seen others do the same — 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


241 


to sing, and accompany herself on the piano, and thus 
to perform alternately the different strains of three dif¬ 
ferent tunes at once. That is, by mere volition, she 
was made to sing and play the first strain of one tune, 
then the first strain of another, and another; and then 
the second strain of the first, second, and third, and so 
alternating from one to the other, until the whole of the 
music of three or four tunes was thus accurately per¬ 
formed. Nor did^it make any difference on what note 
she was stopped, for she would invariably take up the 
strain precisely where she had left it in passing from 
one tune to the other. There are multitudes of scien¬ 
tific gentlemen now living, to whom I could refer as 
witnesses of what I have here described. 

5. It was a common thing for Mary to be clairvoyant 
of my approaches to the Museum, even when at a dis¬ 
tance of a hundred feet or more. When entranced, she 
would instantly tell if I were in the Museum, or, if a 
stranger approached her with my cane, she recognized 
it at once — a result in which I never knew her to fail. 

III. Anomalous results produced by magnetism and 
electricity: — 

1. A few turns of an electrical machine in a room 
below, fifty feet from Mary, invariably threw her into 
spasms. This experiment was often tried, and the re¬ 
sults were always the same. 

2. Similar results followed when she was approached 
with a large magnet. When a magnetized disc was 
brought within a few yards of her, she would detect 
its presence, and fall into spasmodic convulsions. In 
these tests, she would invariably stretch forth her hands 
in the direction of the magnet, saying, “ It wants me, 
it wants me.” Nor did I ever know her to Tail in 

21 


242 


PATHETISM. 


discriminating between the influence of magnetism and 
electricity. The experiments with the electrical ma¬ 
chine, and also with large magnets, were often per¬ 
formed on her by different persons, and the results 
were always the same. However cautiously she might 
be approached, she invariably detected the magnetism. 
I have known sceptics to conceal small horseshoe mag¬ 
nets in their pockets, but on coming near to Mary, she 
detected their influence, whether entranced or not. 
And it was in respect to experiments like these that the 
following testimony was written and published at the 
time: — 

“The subscribers hereby certify, that we have witnessed.numerous 
magnetic experiments made by LaRoy Sunderland, in some of which 
the mental faculties were excited to action by placing the fingers over 
the location of the phrenological organs corresponding to these fac¬ 
ulties ; in others, the power of a steel magnet over the human body in 
a very remarkable degree was shown; that we have carefully examined 
these experiments, and firmly believe, both from the mode in which 
they were conducted, and from the candid manner in which they were 
shown by Mr. Sunderland, that in many of them there cotild be no col¬ 
lusion ; and that the result in some was evidently as unexpected by the 
operator as any person present. Flatbush, New York , May 14, 1842. 
Rev. Thomas M. Strong, James E. Dubois, M. D., T. F. King, M. D., 
Rev. William Barlow, John B. Zabriskie, M. D .”—The Magnet , Oc¬ 
tober, 1842. 

Thus having presented the most prominent features 
of this extraordinary case, a few remarks in respect to 
its bearings on the general subject of clairvoyance, and 
what has been miscalled “ vital electricity,” may now be 
in place., And: — 

1. Volition in Clairvoyants. As far as I could 
judge, in all the experiments on this blind lady, she was 
always governed more or less by her own will, excepting 
in those results brought on by electricity and magnet¬ 
ism. These were wholly independent of her own voli¬ 
tion, and against her own oft-expressed wishes, as they 
disturbed her mind, and often put her nervous system 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


243 


in a very unpleasant condition. This patient was en¬ 
tranced by different operators, and by her own volition, 
exercised against the will of the operator, I have known 
her thus to transfer herself from one operator to an¬ 
other. This she was known to do often, thus showing 
that she usually acted from her own emotions and voli¬ 
tions, and her different states were self-induced, led, as 
she unquestionably was, by her remarkable powers of 
clairvoyance, by which she certainly had “ vision with¬ 
out the eye.” 

And what I know to have been true of this patient 
in respect to self-control and self-induction, agrees with 
what is now known of all other persons who become 
entranced by “ spirit influence ” or by any other process. 
Two facts may be referred to as confirmatory of the 
views here given: — 

(1.) That among all the persons ever entranced by 
Pathetism, I have never known one but who could 
bring on this state at will. Thus of A. J. Davis, Ann 
E. Hall, Mary Jane Mason, and Mary Mattocks.. After 
having been led into the habit of entrancement by the 
suggestions and processes of an operator, they one and 
all thus became conscious of the power in themselves 
to fall into the trance whenever they wished to do so. 
And from this habit of conscious self-induction, some 
have assumed the name of “ independent clairvoyants.” 

(2.) There is a tendency among that class called 
“ mediums,” which confirms these views — a tendency 
which I foresaw and spoke of in the Spirit World 
newspaper, which I published, devoted to this subject, 
some ten years since. Thus the most popular medi¬ 
ums, and who were at first accustomed to close their 
eyes, and make irregular convulsive passes over them- 


244 


PATHETISM. 


pelves as they passed into the trance, are now every 
where beginning to speak with their eyes open, and to 
dispense with all the nervous twitching motions for¬ 
merly so common to them all. Nor have I any doubt 
but that the time is near when “ the best mediums ” will 
speak in a normal state, and in the conscious use of all 
their external senses. As those nervous, spasmodic 
motions are perceived to be unnecessary, and, withal, 
unbecoming in a public speaker, they will be dispensed 
with, I doubt not, in due time. 

2. As to the Effects of Magnetism and Electricity 
upon the Nervous System. All the experiments on this 
blind lady went to show the difference between electro¬ 
magnetism and the nervous forces. They are not the 
same, and in no way identical. Mary was invariably 
disturbed, and often thrown into fearful spasms by mag¬ 
netism and electricity. A number of times her life 
seemed to be in peril from the effects of a magnetized 
steel disk, which it was attempted to bring near to her. 
In all cases, the magnetic and electrical forces injured 
her by disturbing her nervous system, so that it was 
impossible for her to control herself, and it was impos¬ 
sible also for any one else to control her. 

The nervous system of this lady was far more sus¬ 
ceptible to disturbance by the electrical forces than 
any galvanometer or electrometer ever constructed, and 
all the magnetic and electrical phenomena, in her case, 
evidently point to a wide and vital difference between 
the nervous forces and those known under the term of 
electricity or magnetism. We may trace some corre¬ 
spondences in some of the physical and the vital phe¬ 
nomena, but there is evidently no identity, and a slight 
correspondence in a few vital phenomena, is not suffi- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


245 


cient, surely, to authorize the use which has been made of 
the term “ electrical,” when speaking of the vital forces. 
And the phenomena in this remarkable case fully con¬ 
firm the conclusions arrived at by Professor Harrison, 
in his Theory of the Nervous System, and also by Dr. 
Stark, quoted on a preceding (58) page, that the nerves 
are bad conductors of electricity, and that galvanism 
and electricity, like all other stimulants, when applied 
continually, so far from producing the phenomena of 
life, they are the cause of death. 

3. Feats in Music. It may, I think, be a matter of 
doubt whether any of the musical prodigies now before 
the public would be found capable of performing the 
feats in music which were executed by this blind lady. 
And what she did I am sure was not, in her case, the 
results of practice. The first experiment of the kind in 
music was successful. Mr. Peale could not be seen by 
her, for she was blind; and he could not touch her, for 
he was some three yards distance from the piano; nor 
could any signs be addressed to her sense of hearing 
while she was actually engaged in singing and playing 
upon the piano. And yet, in the midst of a strain, at a 
signal made to Mr. Peale by one of the spectators, Mary 
w T ould be stopped on a particular note; and, holding the 
music where Mr. Peale could see the notes, Mary was 
thus made, by mere volition, to alternate from one note 
to another in different tunes, until she had sung and 
performed the whole three or four pieces. 

4. The Age of Clairvoyance. There has never been 
a time, perhaps, when there has been so much reliance 
placed on this occult power, which now is attributed to 
“ departed spirits,” acting through a class of sensitives 
called mediums. And with the history of Spiritism I 

21 * 


246 


PATHETISM. 


suppose myself somewhat familiar. But, among all that 
has ever been reported of “ spirits,” I think nothing will 
be found in the way of clairvoyance which could be 
compared with the examples of this power "which I have 
here given. 

5. Conditions of Clairvoyance. We learn, from an 
examination of the best cases of clairvoyance, some¬ 
thing which appeals to our caution in respect to what 
may or may not be hoped for in the exercise of this 
function. It is to be borne in mind, then, that the ex¬ 
ercise of this clairvoyant power is limited, like other 
mental faculties, by time and space. Beyond a certain 
distance, no communications can be made to either of 
the external senses. To converse by words, or by signs, 
as in speech and writing, the parties must be within a 
given space always. And if this remark be true of 
ordinary communications, it is equally so in respect to 
the distance at which a mere thought can be read, 
where there is no use by either party of the external 
senses. Ordinary communications have respect to light 
and sound. Beyond a certain distance, no object can 
be seen, no sound can be heard. And so it is in clair¬ 
voyance, the sense which is active in thought reading 
corresponds with light and heat , and the conditions 
upon which heat is known to radiate. Two bodies 
brought into contact, one cold and the other hot, the 
caloric is transferred from one to the other in propor¬ 
tion as they approximate. Separate them, and the 
transfer ceases; that is, when the separation is out of 
proportion with the sphere, largeness, and heat-con¬ 
taining and heat-conducting qualities, the transfer 
ceases. The amount of heat transferred depends on 
the proximity, and other conditions. And so, always, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


'247 


the transfer of thought depends not merely on the pre¬ 
viously-established Relation, but also on the proximity 
of the physical spheres of the parties. It is lessened 
by the distance of a few yards, more so by the distance 
of a few rods, and when the distance exceeds ten or 
fifteen rods the power of transfer wholly ceases. I 
know very well how many stories are often told of 
cases where thought has been said to have been trans¬ 
ferred a distance of a mile, nay, a thousand miles, and 
even from pole to pole! But these are nothing but 
stories; they are unworthy of any confidence at all. 
As I have said, I am not aware that there is upon rec¬ 
ord any well-authenticated case so remarkable and con¬ 
vincing as that of the blind lady here referred to; and 
sure I am that no results of this kind could ever be per¬ 
formed with her when she was at any considerable dis¬ 
tance from the operator. 

And thus of time. A certain period of time is ne¬ 
cessary for perfecting the Relation, without which 
there is, there can be, no transfer of thought. And 
when this Relation is # once fully established, it can be 
perpetuated only by constant and unceasing activity. 
Its functions die from the want of motion. Action, 
motion, practice, make perfect; and ceasing to exert 
that influence peculiar to this Pathematic Relation, the 
Relation itself ceases to exist, and its power is gone. 
And hence I have found that when the parties have 
been separated only a few weeks, similarly as bodies 
cool, and thus change their chemical conditions, so does 
the mind become cool, and loses its power for acting, 
and its susceptibility for being acted upon. These two 
qualities, (positive, negative,) are essential conditions, 
which precede the transfer of thought, always. One is 


248 


PATHETISM. 


plastic, (negative,) and in a condition for having an 
impression made upon it; the other we say is active, 
(positive,) and thus in a condition for exerting its Mental 
Forces. And in time, varying in periods of a few weeks 
or months, when the parties are separated, both these 
conditions are changed, and the power of transfer ceases. 

6. Method for testing Clairvoyance . To test this 
power, let a series of experiments be performed in the 
following manner: — 

A (positive) and B (negative) are the parties who 
constitute the mental telegraph. With A is associated 
C, who notes the time and dictates the messages to be 
transferred by A to B. With B, D is also associated, 
for recording the time and messages, through B. It is 
agreed that the parties shall be located in New Orleans 
and Boston, and that the trial shall be made during the 
first week of the succeeding month, at any hour or 
hours chosen by C, who is to dictate to A what thoughts 
shall be transferred. And during that week all the re¬ 
sults are faithfully recorded by D. The time being 
passed, let C and D “compare notes.” C presents a 
written record of what thoughts he dictated to A for 
transfer, and the minute, the hour, and the day when 
the transfer was attempted. D presents a written 
record of the results manifested through B, with the 
precise minute, hour, and day when they appeared. 

When an experiment thus conducted is successfully 
performed, I hope to see it done, or, at least, to see a 
correct report of it. And were the assumptions put 
forth within a few years past in behalf of what has 
been alleged to have been done by “ spirits,” true, how 
easy it would be for two “ mediums ” to put themselves 
in a suitable condition for a series of tests like this. I 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


249 


sny a series, because a result so very extraordinary as 
the actual transfer of a mere thought, without any 
words or signs, could be satisfactorily demonstrated 
only by a series of experiments, and repeated under the 
conditions I have here described. We must be careful 
how we misinterpret mere coincidences, memories, and 
thoughts which spontaneously come up in dreams, 
awake or asleep. Coincidence is not transfer; nor is 
memory of thoughts and words, before “agreed upon,” 
transfer. And yet, one who is by his friends thought 
to be foremost on this question as to “ The Soul’s Tel¬ 
egraphic Faculty,” has given the following as his ex¬ 
planation of this matter: — 

“ What are the conditions ? Manifestly these : that foot and brain 
he connected by some subtle cords of sympathetic contact. The same 
cords are necessary between all other parts and extremities. But how 
can these conditions exist between two congenial souls, “wide as the 
poles asunder,” and in the external world? Thus: By a mutual un¬ 
derstanding that, at a given hour of the day or night, when all the rest 
of the world is shut out of the charmed circle, each will think a certain 
kind and number of thoughts with reference to the other , with all that 
distinctness and earnestness which would naturally characterize a 
familiar face-to-face conversation. The amount of time to be consumed 
in thinking such thoughts, and the exact method of arranging them 
into sentences, or questions and answers, should be a matter of prior 
mutual understanding. Note down every thought that bolts in upon 
the mind while so telegraphing. In this way a melodious concert of 
sweet sympathies will be organized ; after which, notwithstanding the 
immense distances, the twain may commune on the principle of the 
magnetic telegraph. We will cheerfully give more on these important 
points, if it be desired. 

“ In one short sentence let us commit ourself to the long-cherished 
conviction that, in the not far future of this life, mankind will enjoy 
telegraphic intercourse, independently of physical agents and ma¬ 
chinery.” — Herald of Progress, July 28, 1860. 

“ The foot and brains ” must be connected, of course. 
And yet, we have seen numerous stories told of “im¬ 
pressions” conveyed to the brains by an amputated leg! 
I know a case where a son of the Emerald Isle had 
both legs amputated by a railroad car. He was in 
the chamber, and his legs in a room below, while he 


250 


PATIIETISM. 


imagined pins stuck into his absent limb. And stories 
are rife of amputated limbs, even after their burial, 
which conveyed impressions to the distant brains to 
which they formerly belonged. All these reports lack 
authentication. 

But what shall we say of this new explanation of 
“ The Soul’s Telegraphic Faculty,” when we are told 
that the parties may have a previous mutual under¬ 
standing as to the “ kind and number of thoughts ” they 
will have “with reference to each other?” If the pre¬ 
vious arrangements are less exact than those I have 
described, I do not perceive how any thing could be 
proved by them except the Faculties of Imagination 
and Credulity. 

There are any amount of “ remarkable coincidences ” 
on record, which uninformed and. credulous people are 
ever ready to attribute to “ spirits,” or to remote and 
extraordinary causes. And when I say credulous, I 
mean only what we find true among all classes of peo¬ 
ple. Thus, the Papist is credulous in respect to matters 
favorable to Papacy; the Mormon is credulous in mat¬ 
ters that favor Mormonism ; the Baptist and the Meth¬ 
odist are each more or less credulous in respect to those 
phenomena which favor their respective creeds. The 
Spiritist, accustomed to witness a certain class of phe¬ 
nomena, for which he cannot account by any laws with 
which he is familiar, is thus inclined to attribute mere 
coincidences to spirits, or to “The Soul’s Faculty of 
Telegraphing.” 

But the question here considered is not as to wnether 
sometimes two persons may not happen to think simul¬ 
taneously the same thoughts. This happens occasion¬ 
ally in dreams, as also when the parties are awake. In a 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


251 


work I published some years ago, I gave an account of 
a similar dream, said to have been dreamed simultane¬ 
ously by a mother, and her son, who was far from home 
attending school. It was to this effect; that on a 
certain night the son went home, entered at a certain 
door of his father’s house, and approached his mother, 
then in bed, and raising his hand, he said, “ Mother, I 
am going a long journey.” Whereupon, his mother 
exclaimed, “ O son, thou art dead! ” The time, the in¬ 
cidents, the words, were the same in both dreams, and 
the parties expected of course something unusual would 
occur. As the coincidence was so remarkable, they 
supposed it must betoken the death of one or both. 
However, the mother and son lived many years after¬ 
wards, and nothing unusual happened to either of 
them. And in speaking of dreams and coincidences, 
it reminds me of a curious fact in Psychology, which I 
have myself witnessed a number of times, although I 
have never seen the like of it reported in any work on 
medicine or on mental philosophy. The fact I allude 
to is this: there are certain persons, or persons at cer¬ 
tain times, whose brains are so plastic that they receive 
impressions so distinctly from the story of a dream , or 
any other remarkable circumstance, that the narrative 
instantly incorporates itself in the memory, and they 
speak of it as their own experience! At such times 
they cannot distinguish between what they hear stated 
by others and their own personal experience. This 
may account for the dream (so supposed) in one of the 
parties above referred to. As, for instance, the mother 
may have had such a dream, but the son had no such 
thoughts, asleep or awake, until he read his mother’s 
letter, and the shock it gave his nervous system put his 


252 


PATHETISM. 


mind in a condition so plastic, that the incidents at 
once incorporated themselves into his memory so thor¬ 
oughly that he was unable to distinguish them from the 
other normal records which time had made there. 

I have known persons who often failed to discrim¬ 
inate between their dreams and the events of their 
waking hours. A lady, well known to the public as an 
author, assured me that for a long time she remembered 
having removed a large quantity of rubbish from the 
cellar of the house in which she lived, and had often 
spoken of this labor to her family, ere her mind came 
into a condition favorable for remembering the dream 
in which that labor had been performed ; and even then 
she had to visit the locality where she thought the rub¬ 
bish had been carried, in order to fully assure herself 
that the subject which had for so long a time occupied 
her mind as a “real reality,” was only indeed a real 
dream. 

Precisely in this manner, we may suppose, two per¬ 
sons often find themselves “thinking of one another,” 
“thinking the same thoughts,” and it is not perhaps 
very surprising that people should now and then be 
found who so easily construe such events into instances 
which they denominate the transfer of thought. 

Such dreams, such coincidents, are constantly occur¬ 
ring, and those who know of no other satisfactory 
method of accounting for them, we may allow to at¬ 
tribute them to departed spirits, or to “ The Soul’s Fac¬ 
ulty of Telegraphing.” The “ cherished conviction ” 
above quoted has recently been carried out by a few 
spiritists among us, who have gone so far as to fix on 
certain places, such as Portland, Boston, Buffalo, and 
St. Louis, where the “mental telegraphic” operating 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


1453 


(mediums) were to be located. And to show the wis¬ 
dom that governs in these spiritual arrrangements, I 
may add, that the author of these pages has been 
“ chosen and designated ” in the movement, as one of 
the “Batteries” with which this work is to be car¬ 
ried on ! 

Thus it has been in all ages; when certain people get 
once to believing on any subject, and the organs of 
wonder and credulity are fully aroused, it is impossible 
to say when or where they will stop. It subserves no 
good purpose to argue much with such persons, or by 
ridicule to attempt to arrest the rapid strides with 
which they incline to go ahead in the “royal road” of 
“ progression.” We must leave such to learn from the 
Great Teacher Experience, who is always in waiting 
to become the real Alma Mater and Instructor of us all. 

Double Consciousness. 

I use this term for the want of a better one. Persons 
I have found who seem to live, in separate states, so 
distinct from one another, that they have no memory 
of each when they pass from one to another. Thus, if 
we number these states, and call that which is normal 
1, and those which are abnormal 2, 3, and 4, I find that 
the patient will read a piece of poetry or a book in the 
second state, and repeat what he read in the first or 
third state, without any conscious memory of his having 
seen it in the second state. This explains how it may 
have been when certain entranced persons have quoted 
from authors which it was supposed they had never 
read; when the truth is, they read the writings and 
quoted them without the memory of having done so. 
We can, all of us, often remember poetry, even when 
22 


/ 


‘254 


PATHETISM. 


we cannot call to mind when, where, or how we became 
familiar with it. 

Soon after the death of my second son, who was 
buried in New Jersey, I requested Miss Ann E. Hall, to 
whose remarkable clairvoyant powers I have before 
referred, to visit his grave. She did so, in her mind, 
and proved her clairvoyance of my memory in the fol¬ 
lowing manner. I asked her what I thought or said to 
myself, (for my thought had never been uttered,) when 
I looked into his little grave. She answered correctly, 
and said,— 

“ All my hopes are buried there ! ” 

Whereupon she repeated the following lines: — 

“ Sleep, little one ! the summer winds are breathing 
A gentle hymn to lull thy quiet rest; 

Around thy tomb, in mournful beauty wreathing, 

The ivy creeps, in freshening verdure dressed. 

“ Sleep, little one! the summer flowers are springing 
In holy peace above thy mouldering head, 

To guard thy dust, and from thy bosom flinging 
A mingled sweetness o’er thy silent bed. 

“We miss thee, love! thy joyous face once blushing 
With rosy light death-shades have overcast; 

But O, how oft these heartfelt tears are gushing, 

To think our eyes have looked on thee their iast.” 


I asked her where she had seen that poetry, and at 
various times, while she was in a state of trance, and 
when awake, endeavored to make her remember having 
read it somewhere; but she insisted upon it that “ an 
angel communicated the words to her,” and declared 
that she had no recollection of ever having read them. 
Her perfect honesty I never doubted; and yet I after¬ 
wards ascertained that that poetry was not original with 
her, as it was published in a periodical some three 
months before it was thus repeated to me, and my pa- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


255 


tient had no doubt read it in one of those abnormal 
states of which her volition could not recall any 
memory. 

A case was published in the Medical Repository a 
few years ago, of a lady who fell into a profound sleep, 
and when she waked up, she was found to have lost all 
recollection of her previous life; even her memory of 
words and things was gone, so that she had to learn 
every thing anew. And, after studying for some time 
to acquire the use of words, she again fell into a state 
of somnium, and on awaking from this she remembered 
every thing she had forgotten after the first fit of sleep¬ 
ing; and what was still more singular, she noAv forgot 
every thing which had transpired after the first attack. 
And for a series of years, she alternately passed from 
one of these states to the other, in one of which her 
memory of things was entirely distinct from the other. 

Dr. Devan read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
in February, 1822, the history of a case observed by 
Dr. Dyer, of Aberdeen, in a girl sixteen years old, 
which lasted from the 2d of March to the 11th of June, 
1815. The first symptom was an uncommon propensity 
to fall asleep in the evenings. This was followed by a 
habit of talking in her sleep on those occasions. One 
evening, she fell asleep in this manner: imagining her¬ 
self an episcopal clergyman, she went through the cer¬ 
emony of baptizing three children, and gave an appro¬ 
priate prayer. Her mistress shook her by the shoulders, 
on which she awoke, and appeared unconscious of every 
thing, except that she had fallen asleep, of which she 
showed herself ashamed. She sometimes dressed her¬ 
self and the children while in this state, or, as Miss L. 
called it, “ dead asleep ; ” answered questions put to her 


256 


pathetism. 


in such a manner as to show that she understood the 
question; but the answers were often, though not 
always, incongruous. One day, in this state she sat at 
breakfast, with perfect correctness, with her eyes shut. 
She afterwards awokerwith the child on her knees, and 
wondered how she got on her clothes. Sometimes the 
cold air awakened her; at other times she was seized 
with the affection while walking out with the children. 
She sang a hymn delightfully in this state; and from a 
comparison which Dr. Dyer had an opportunity of 
making, it aj^peared incomparably better done than 
when awake. In the mean time, a still more singular 
and interesting symptom began to make its appearance. 
The circumstances which occurred during the paroxysm 
were completely forgotten by her when the paroxysms 
were over, but were perfectly remarked during subse¬ 
quent paroxysms. Her mistress said, that when in this 
stupor, on subsequent occasions, she told her what was 
said to her on the evening when she baptized the chil¬ 
dren. A depraved fellow-servant, understanding that 
she wholly forgot every transaction that occurred during 
the fit, clandestinely introduced a young man into the 
house, who treated her with the utmost rudeness, while 
her fellow-servant stopped her mouth with the bed 
clothes, and otherwise overpowered a vigorous resist¬ 
ance which was made by her, even during the influence 
of her complaint. Next day she had not the slightest 
recollection even of that transaction; nor did any per¬ 
son interested in her welfare know of it for several 
days, till she was in one of her paroxysms, when she 
related the whole fact to her mother. Next Sunday 
she was taken to church by her mistress while the par¬ 
oxysm was on her. She shed tears during the sermon, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


257 


particularly during the account given of the execution 
of three young men at Edinburgh, who had described, 
in their dying declarations, the dangerous steps in which 
their career of vice and infamy took its commencement. 
When she returned home, she recovered in a quarter of 
an hour, was quite amazed at the questions put to her 
about the church sermon, and denied that she had been 
to any such place; but next night, on being taken ill, 
she mentioned that she had been to church, repeated 
the words of the text, and, in Dr. Dyer’s hearing, gave 
an accurate account of the tragical narrative of the 
three young men, by which her feelings had been so 
powerfully affected. (Dr. Spurzheim, Phren. p. 78, sqq.) 

A number of similar cases were stated before the 
Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, February 28, 
1843. One by Dr. Webster, of a patient who believed 
himself to be another person at the same time. In* one 
state, he disavows the opinions and proceedings of the 
second state; and in the second state, inflicts punish¬ 
ment upon the body of the first, for imaginary offences, 
and designates himself as another by bad names and 
abuse. 

Another case was referred to by Dr. Mayo, which 
lasted for several months, and seemed to have been 
caused by the woman’s swallowing some ointment con¬ 
taining gunpowder. In one state this woman learned 
and said things which she was quite incapable of doing 
in the other. In one state she was pe?'t and impudent, 
and in the other modest and retiring. 

The following details were furnished me in 1843, by 
Dr. W. B. Fahnestock, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 
They are certainly interesting, as they seem to show 
that the hearing sense is double, or that we may hear 
22 * 


258 


PATHETISM. 


in given conditions, without the use of the external 


“My experiments have been conducted with the utmost care; 
and I am confident, that if similar experiments be repeated by 
others, with proper care, the results will be as satisfactory to 
them, as mine have been to me. 

“Experiment 1st. Subject, a young lady. Three persons 
were requested to retire into a distant part of the yard, and to 
speak of something, -which they should bear in mind. When 
asked what they were speaking about, she said, ‘ They are talking 
about the kitchen and the piazza ; ’ and when requested to state 
the exact words they were speaking at that moment, she replied, 
that ‘ Mr. Z. just now said that it will do very well,’ alluding to 
the manner of the trimming of the trees, &c. They were then 
requested to come in ; and when told what she said, they declared 
that those were the subjects spoken about, and the exact words 
that had been uttered. 

“ Experiment 2d. Subject, a lady in the country. Was re¬ 
quested to state what they were speaking about in the house of 
a neighbor about one hundred yards distant, and the doors being 
both closed. She said they were speaking about a Mr. M., who 
lived at a distance. Answer ascertained to be correct. This 
experiment was performed on the spur of the moment, without 
any previous arrangement, and therefore puts the possibility of 
collusion out of the question. 

“ Experiment 3d. Subject, a young lady. Was requested to 
state what two young ladies were speaking about in the next 
room, who had retired for that purpose. They were directed to 
whisper barely loud enough for the one to hear the other. Her 
answer was correct. 

“ Experiment 4th. Subject, a lady. Was requested to listen 
to some music at a distance. Said she heard it, named the tunes 
that were played in succession, and the kind of instrument on 
which they were performed, &c. This was also performed with¬ 
out any previous arrangement. Her statements were ascertained 
to be correct. 

“ Experiment 5th. Subject, a lady. Was requested to listen 
to what a young lady was singing, who had been sent out into 
the woods for that purpose by certain sceptics, with directions to 
sing merely loud enough to hear herself, and to note which piece 
she sang first, &c. Answer: * She is singing “ My soul is 
heaven bound ; glory, hallelujah ! ” ’ And after a pause of per¬ 
haps half a minute, she said, ‘ And now she has commenced, 
“ The Promised Land.”' Answer correct. She sang but two 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


259 


pieces, and those so low, that (to use the young lady’s own ex¬ 
pression) it was impossible for any person to have heard at the 
distance of three yards. 

“ I have two subjects, both gentlemen, in whom the sense of 
seeing is not pathetized, at the same time that the sense of hear¬ 
ing is, and who are both able in that state to translate them¬ 
selves, or rather their senses, to a distance; and although they 
can see nothing, they are enabled to hear every thing that is 
said, &c. They have frequently told what was spoken at the 
distance of several miles ; and when taken to a cocoonery at the 
distance of four miles, they declared they could' hear the worms 
feeding as distinctly as if their ears had been within an inch of 
them. 

“ Both of these gentlemen were at one time sceptics, and en¬ 
tered this state out of curiosity. One of them has lately entered 
into this state more perfectly, and upon the tenth trial was ena¬ 
bled to see, and has now become a most excellent clairvoyant. 

“ With these and several other subjects, I have performed 
many like experiments, at even a much greater distance; and so 
far as I have been able to ascertain, they have always been cor¬ 
rect. If, then, they can hear and repeat the exact words spoken, 
or the music played, &c., at a distance so far exceeding the 
powers of the same sense in a natural state, how can we limit 
their abilities ? I have also made many experiments to test fhe 
powers of the senses of touch, taste, feeling, smell, &c., at a dis¬ 
tance, with the most decided success ; and I am now perfectly 
convinced, that they can translate all their faculties to a distance, 
and use them as correctly, and with as much judgment, as in 
their natural state.” 


Presentiment. 

This is an anticipation of future events, without ex¬ 
perience or observation. By Intuition we may some¬ 
times become cognizant of occult laws, on which cer¬ 
tain future results depend. This clairvoyant sense may 
take cognizance of the future, or it may perceive the 
laws or adequate causes now existing which secure and 
make contingencies certain. But as to the fact of pre¬ 
sentiments there can be no doubt. 

Dr. Binns gives an account of a man who for years 
had a presentiment that his own death would be caused 


260 


PATHETISM. 


by being buried alive. This impression was so strong 
upon his mind, that he wrote a treatise on the subject 
of “ premature burials,” with a view, if possible, to j)re- 
vent so horrible a calamity. Nay, to “ make assurance 
doubly sure,” he went so far as to form a compact with 
a second party, for the fulfilment of all necessary pre¬ 
cautions before he should be buried. And yet, com¬ 
pelled to bow to the inscrutable laws of natural contin¬ 
gencies, this very man, Dr. Walker, was buried before 
he was dead, as subsequent investigations fully proved. 
Such turns in human affairs gave to the ancients their 
superstitious ideas, and consecrated the phrase so 
often noticed in heathen writers, “For so the Fates 
ordain.” 

Jung-Stilling, in his Almanac of 1808, relates a re¬ 
markable presentiment of a minister, who was taking a 
walk with the intention of visiting a rocky mountain 
near his house, and of enjoying the beautiful view from 
it. While approaching the summit of the mountain, he 
felt restless and uneasy; unable to explain this feeling, 
he asked himself whether it was right for him to spend 
his time thus idly, and, busied in such thoughts, he 
stepped aside for a moment to seek a cool place under 
a wall formed by the rock. He had scarcely left the 
narrow path leading to the top of the mountain, when 
a large stone, breaking loose from the rest of the rock, 
with great vehemence struck the spot where one mo¬ 
ment before he was standing. 

The Rev. John Dodd, one evening, when already 
undressed, felt a great agitation in his mind, which was 
altogether unaccountable to him. It seemed to him 
that he ought to go and visit a friend, who lived a mile 
or two off from him. His family tried to dissuade him 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


261 


from going that night, but their efforts were in vain. 
Mr. Dodd went, dark as it was, and on arriving at the 
house of his friend, he found him ready to commit sui¬ 
cide. His unexpected visit and counsel prevented the 
deed forever. 

Schiller, the great poet, was in the habit of walking 
with his steward. At one time, when passing on a 
rugged path through a pine wood and between high 
rocks, he was seized by a feeling that some person 
must be buried there. Some time after, he was in¬ 
formed of the murder of a wagoner, committed at the 
place, of which he had the presentiment. 

Clairvoyant Diagnosis. 

The facts detailed in the preceding pages authorize 
the following conclusions: — 

1. The trance is self-induced in all cases. When not 
associated with any volitional processes for its induc¬ 
tion, we say it is idiopathic or spontaneous. And while 
this state is very common, the clairvoyant sense is rare, 
so very rare, that, perhaps it would be a correct esti¬ 
mate to say, that scarcely one in a thousand cases of 
trance ever evince any real clairvoyance at all. 

2. The clairvoyant sense is, also, spontaneous; and it 
is active, without the trance. The trance may some¬ 
times facilitate the exercise of this sense, as common 
sleep does when each of the external senses are sus¬ 
pended in dreaming. But real clairvoyance, I am sure, 
more often occurs in the normal, waking state, when 
the mind is in the full exercise of all the attributes of 
manhood. In this state, the mind is in the best con¬ 
dition for acquiring and communicating knowledge. 
In a state of sleep or trance, a part of our faculties are 


20*2 


PATHETISM. 


inactive, and hence the trance or dreaming is an im¬ 
perfect state when compared with that in which all the 
attributes of manhood are in a condition for exercising 
their highest functions. 

3. The legitimate use of clairvoyance is the gratifica¬ 
tion of the normal wants of the organism in which it is 
developed. And it is a remarkable fact, that this sense 
when first noticed and named lucidity or clairvoyance 
by M. Puysegur, its exercise by the somnambulist was 
confined to a description of his own case. It was in 
this way that this sense first attracted attention, under 
the observations of Puysegur, Deluze, and others in 
Paris, about seventy or eighty years ago. And long 
after it was ascertained that somnambulists were some¬ 
times clairvoyant of their own complaints, curiosity 
was excited to see if the somnambule might not also be 
lucid enough to see and prescribe the best remedies for 
other diseases besides his own. In this manner it was, 
that the practice of clairvoyant diagnosis came into 
vogue. 

4. The clairvoyant sense, in its best cases, is exceed¬ 
ingly limited in its sphere of range of objects. Deluze 
mentions the case of an excellent clairvoyant in Paris, 
who prognosticated the recovery of a patient, and who 
was himself killed by an accident some days before the 
fulfilment of his own prediction. Thus, although clair¬ 
voyance could foretell the recovery of the patient on a 
certain day in the future, it could not take within its 
scope the death of the clairvoyant himself, which was 
to happen, even before the events which he had accu¬ 
rately foretold. And what was true of this case is true 
of all cases of real clairvoyance. The sphere of this 
power is limited, not in one case, but in all. Sometimes 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


263 


the clairvoyant will describe his own disease once, and 
then the function ceases forever; or he will describe the 
case of some one else accurately. But on testing him 
afterwards, he will be found deficient in this power. 
Nor has a case ever occurred where one has been found 
clairvoyant on all objects to which, for the time, the 
attention might be directed. , The best cases are lim¬ 
ited. I knew an excellent lady in New York, in 1842, 
who was unquestionably clairvoyant of absent persons, 
and she described a medical friend of mine, whom she 
had never seen; and yet, when thus clairvoyant of a 
person a mile off, she had no knowledge of another 
person who was sitting by her side, and to whom her 
attention was directed in vain. It is a great mistake to 
suppose that because one is clairvoyant at all, that 
therefore he must be clairvoyant at two successive pe¬ 
riods of the same things, or clairvoyant the second time 
of any thing. Instinct directs the bird how to prepare 
its nest, which is builded with so much care by the 
roadside; but that same instinct fails to see the danger 
that will arise from the access of rude boys y whose 
hands will be sure to plunder that nest before the de¬ 
sign in its construction shall have been fulfilled. 

5. Of that intuitive function we call clairvoyance, it 
would be accurate, perhaps, to affirm that we know 
nothing as to its physiology or pathology, and but very 
little indeed of those conditions on which its manifesta¬ 
tions depend. Certainly we do not know enough of 
these conditions to bring this power under human voli¬ 
tion. And even if it could be subjected to our volition, 
as we have seen, it could not be thus made sufficiently 
reliable in diagnosis and the treatment of disease. Im¬ 
pressible persons may sympathize very readily with the 


264 


PATHETISM. 


feelings of the sick, and by holding a “a lock of hair” 
in their hands they may thus have the clairvoyant sense 
sufficiently excited to enable them to name the disease 
accurately. But it does not follow that on diagnosis in 
this manner, we may always rely in the treatment of 
disease. This is to be inferred from two considerations. 
First, that no two clairvoyants can be found who will 
describe precisely alike; and secondly, when two clair¬ 
voyants happen to approximate in their diagnosis, they 
are sure to differ in their methods of cure. Whereas, 
were clairvoyance as reliable as it is generally supposed 
to be by a certain class of people, there should be no 
difference either in the diagnosis or the processes 
of cure. But, as we all know, each clairvoyant has 
his hobby, his peculiar forms of “pills,” “powders,” 
“roots and herbs,” and upon the superior merits of 
which each one begs for the patronage of the sick. 
In this behalf, therefore, I do not see that they can 
be much in advance of quacks and the great army 
of pill men. 

6. There is no class ot people whose minds are so 
susceptible, so plastic, and easily moulded into habits , as 
those who sink into a state of trance. Suggestion is 
often law to them. If told they can see the moon, or 
a star whose light has not yet reached our earth, the 
somnambule imagines he can do it. And if told that 
he is clairvoyant, and has the power to examine and 
prescribe for the sick, he readily believes all this, and 
acts upon it, while, it may be, he never was really clair¬ 
voyant at all. In this way, as the trance has become 
common, it has come to be associated with hypothetical 
clairvoyance, which is relied upon for diagnosis. And, 
by practice, a tact is acquired in the use of terms, until 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


265 


examining and prescribing for the sick is found to be a 
paying business, when there may be inducements for 
its continuance, even when the parties are never clair¬ 
voyant. 

7. And yet I would not say but that I think this hy¬ 
pothetical clairvoyance as reliable in diagnosis as the 
common methods now practised among us. The testi¬ 
monies of the highest authorities in the medical profes¬ 
sion are now before the world, showing beyond all doubt 
that the diagnosis generally of all classes, Allopathic, 
Homoeopathic, and Eclectic, and their methods of 
drugging, are not reliable. See here: — 

“ The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon, and the effects of 
our medicines on the human system in the highest degree uncertain, 
except, indeed, that they have destroyed more lives than war, pesti¬ 
lence, and famine combined.”— John Mason Good , M. D., F. R. S., 
Author of “ Book of Nature “ A System of Nosology ,” “ Study of 
Medicine. ” 

“ I declare, as my conscientious conviction, founded on long experi¬ 
ence and reflection, that if there was not a single physician, surgeon, 
man-midwdfe, chemist, apothecary, druggist, nor drug, on the face of 
the earth, there would be less sickness and less mortality than now pre¬ 
vail.”— James Johnson, M. D., F. R. S., Editor of the Medico- Chirur- 
gical Review. 

“ As a physician advances in age, he generally, I think, places less 
confidence in the ordinary medical treatment than he did, not only dur¬ 
ing his early , but even his middle period of life.” — Sir James Clarke , 
Physician to Her Majesty Queen Victoria , May 26, 1860. 

“The presumption always is, that every noxious agent, including 
medicines proper , which hurts a well man, hurts a sick one. The mis¬ 
erable delusion of homoeopathy builds itself on an axiom directly the 
opposite of this, namely, that the sick are to be cured by poisons. 
The only way to kill it, and all similar fancies, and to throw every 
quack nostrum into discredit, is to root out completely the suckers of 
the old rotten superstition , that whatever is odious or noxious is likely to 
be good for disease." — Oliver Wendell Holmes , Speech before the Mas¬ 
sachusetts Medical Society , 1860. 


While, therefore, the leading men in the so-called 
regular medical profession, are manifesting less and less 
confidence in their own theories of drugging, some 
apology perhaps may be found for that spurious or hy- 

23 


266 


PATHKTISM. 


pothetical clairvoyance now so rife, as a means of diag¬ 
nosis from a “lock of hair.” How many regular physi¬ 
cians have assumed to give the diagnosis, not from an 
actual examination of the patient, but from an exam¬ 
ination of one of the fluids excreted from his body! 
But, it is to be hoped, the time is approaching when no 
such methods will be known to disgrace the “ divine art 
of healing.” Science and Philosophy show that the 
most enlarged experience relies most on induction and 
deduction in diagnosis. 

Health and happiness should never be left to the 
contingencies of a dream, the vagaries of hypothetical 
clairvoyance, or the innumerable dye-stuffs prescribed 
by the medical profession. The general failure of the 
regular guardians of health, together with that love of 
the mysterious so common to our nature, has contrib¬ 
uted very much to that combination of circumstances 
which has originated the practice of clairvoyant diag¬ 
nosis in the treatment of the sick. In cases of dis¬ 
ease, the most important thing is, to know what to do, 
or what to cease doing — a matter that is not often 
determined by quackery or hypothetical clairvoyance. 

And, ignorant of Nature’s laws, and as to what 
should be done, the dreamers are always ready to pre¬ 
scribe “ something to take,” and which the plastic cre¬ 
dulity of the sick man makes all the more efficacious if 
it come from an “ Indian,” a “ departed spirit,” or that 
invisible world supposed to have been visited “ in a 
state of trance.” 


Psychometr y. 

This term (soul measure) has been used, for a few 
years past, to signify a power which a certain class of 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


267 


persons are supposed to possess for describing character 
from impressions made on their minds, by contact with 
the paper on which the party described has written. It 
is assumed, that in writing, we transmit a characteristic 
substance to the paper; so that by merely writing one’s 
name on a piece of paper, the entire mental character is 
thus transmitted with the signature. The practitioners 
of these so-called “Psychometric examinations” lay 
down the following theory : — 

That there is a nervous substance, which attaches to 
the paper in all writings. This substance is indestructi¬ 
ble, and may be recognized a thousand years after being 
thus transmitted to paper; and in it is embodied the 
entire character of the writer. No matter through how 
many other hands the autograph may have passed, nor 
with what intense emotions it may have been gazed 
upon and read by other parties. It may be handled, 
fumigated, and pass through the “ nervous influences ” 
of any number of persons, yet the nervous substance 
transmitted to the letter by the author is never de¬ 
stroyed ; it may, perhaps, be weakened, but it is never 
wholly absorbed or evaporated. This is one part of the 
theory. Here is the other: — 

That a class of persons, called Psychometrists, pos¬ 
sess the power of deriving from physical contact with 
the writing an accurate knowledge of the mental char¬ 
acter of its author. By merely holding the letter in 
the hand, or bringing it in contact with the nervous 
system of the psychometrist, the latter is thus enabled 
to give an accurate description of the entire mental 
character of the writer. 

Such is the prevalent theory, and such is the reliance 
placed on these assumptions, that numbers engage in 


268 


PATHETISM. 


these so-called “psychometric examinations,” and carry 
it on as a regular business, the same as “ fortune telling ” 
was carried on in former ages, and, indeed, similarly as 
it is carried on at the present time, and, I may add, that 
the one is as reliable as the other. 

I have never omitted any favorable opportunity for 
testing this power, and have for this purpose caused 
letters to be sent, and have sent any number myself, to 
some of the most popular psychometrists far and near. 
I am quite confident that I have witnessed what have 
been considered some of the best experiments of this 
class, but the whole has only tended to fix the convic¬ 
tion on my own mind, that this theory is unsupported 
by facts, and that psychometry is not reliable as a source 
of information in respect to human character. My rea¬ 
sons may be briefly stated : — 

1. In all that is known of intuition and clairvoyance, 
there is nothing to authorize this notion in respect to 
psychometry. Because we can see to read ordinary 
print a distance of twelve or fifteen inches from the 
eyes, does it therefore follow that we should be able to 
read the same print a distance of fifteen miles ? Sight, 
and each of the other senses, have their limits, and the 
same is true of the clairvoyant sense. And, as this 
sense is also limited in all its phases, it cannot be relied 
upon for psychometric examinations. 

2. This notion in respect to the elimination of a ner¬ 
vous substance -which attaches permanently to a piece 
of paper, has never been proved, and it finds no analo¬ 
gies in Psychology, Physiology, or Pathology, for its 
support. It has been supposed that the function in the 
dog, which enables him to distinguish the track of his 
master, is an approach to this power in the psychom- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


269 


etrist. To this I reply, that it is not true that all dogs 
have this instinctive power; and those which have the 
most of it are limited in its exercise by time and space. 
No dog is able to follow the trail after the lapse of a 
few hours; the atmosphere makes such changes as puts 
it beyond the power of the dog to scent game, or the 
steps of his master. Nor is this all: this instinctive 
function in the dog is adapted only to the supply of his 
own wants and the conservation of his own nature as a 
dog. And thus it is as to this use of the psychometric 
sense. All there is of Intuition in the human species, I 
suppose to be necessary for the conservation of the 
organisms in which this sense is found. And hence 
Anthropology affords no authority for supposing that 
there is in man a function for “measuring” human 
character in the manner assumed by psychometry. 

3. This notion in respect to a nervous fluid elimi¬ 
nated upon the paper in writing one’s name, has nothing 
in facts, science, or philosophy, on which to rest. It is 
improbable and absurd. Mental qualities attach to the 
mind, and not to a piece of paper, as such. Corre¬ 
spondences may be traced between the writing, or the 
work a man does, and some of his mental traits. But 
this correspondence is quite circumscribed, and it cannot 
therefore be relied upon for a knowledge of the entire 
character. But this correspondence is not recognized 
in psychometry; the substance relied upon in these 
experiments is not a sight of the writing, but simply 
contact with the paper on which the signature is written. 

4. Psychometry admits itself a decided failure in 
those respects, in which it is the most essential that its 
demonstration should be made. There is no individ¬ 
uality without sex and age , and yet all psychometrists 

23 * 


270 


PATHETISM. 


disclaim the power to tell either the one or the other. 
And thus the whole question is yielded. By guessing 
twice, sex would be designated correctly, and if there 
be no power to tell a man from a woman, nor to see the 
difference between ten or fifty years in the age, then I 
think it safe to conclude that psychometry is not what 
it is estimated for by those who carry on these exami¬ 
nations as a business. 

5. If we examine the merits of psychometry, we shall 
find that the so-called “ delineations of character,” made 
in this manner, are all of them indefinite and common¬ 
place ; a nose of wax, a garment that will fit any one, 
and often with a coloring that might please the fancy 
of all. A few years since I adopted the following 
method for testing one who was then considered every 
way reliable in this behalf. I was at that time engaged 
in writing a series of articles for a Boston paper on the 
merits of psychometric examinations; and, not 'wishing 
this psychometrist to suspect from what localities my 
letters had reached her, I caused four to be sent to her 
from different post offices, in three different states. In 
these letters I complied with all her terms; so that if 
there should be any failure, the cause could not be 
traced to myself. But each of her answers was a fail¬ 
ure, for in each she supposed herself describing a lady! 
Here is one of her “ psychometric delineations ” of my¬ 
self, and this one is a fair specimen of the whole: — 

“ Psychometric delineation of character from writing sent by C. H. 
W., Watertown, Massachusetts. By Mrs.-. 

“Lady — refined — cultivated; looks healthy; her countenance 
shows her to be a person that is cultivated. Expression of her mouth 
and adjacent portion is not free and natural enough. A trifling degree 
of affectation about it; that is, it was affectation at first, but has been 
there so long that it is now second nature. 

“ Self-esteem rather large. Firmness large. A good deal of self- 
reliance and independence in her composition; a person capable of 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


271 


standing alone; does not feel the necessity of clinging to or leaning on 
others for support, as women generally do. Full conscientiousness. 
Rather large secretiveness. It has been cultivated. 

“Has a quick,intuitive intellect — arrives at conclusions quickly and 
accurately. The organs of causality and comparison are prominent. 
Wit, rather large; pleasant, good company; agreeable; has large 
suavity ; appears to advantage in company ; graceful. 

“ Expresses herself well; forms her sentences with point and beauty. 
She seems a person that would not do any thing to shock society; 
wishes to be in ton in morals, opinions, etiquette, &c.' Yet, with all 
this, there is a sort of pleasant, independent feeling; but not the feel¬ 
ing that would make a come-outer — make her do different from any 
one else ; she wouldn’t do it; doesn’t see the use of it. 

“ Large constructiveness; good taste in arrangements, selections, 
&c. Fond of the beautiful and the perfect; has not veneration enough 
to make her superstitious or orthodox. Is inclined to progression, but 
won’t go what she thinks ‘too far.’ 

“ Seems to be a strong feeling of propriety about her. Combative¬ 
ness and destructiveness very active just now. Is no passive, quiet 
clay piece. Though she has large benevolence, she would not pass by 
with impunity any thing she considered an infringement on herself, or 
those with whom she is connected. Is capable of showing great indig¬ 
nation, using cutting words, where she thinks they are needed. Social 
faculties all well developed ; there is a roundness, fulness, and health¬ 
fulness about them that is quite agreeable. Large union for life ; aches 
just now; don’t know the cause ; I don’t know the cause. Social 
organs look like rosebuds folded up. Amativeness, pure and healthy. 
Temperament, nervous bilious. Age eighteen to twenty-four ; can’t 
give it exact. Large order; good number. Lower perceptives gen¬ 
erally active and full. Good memory. Upper perceptives well devel¬ 
oped. Is a person who arrives at very accurate conclusions; seldom 
makes mistakes in her deductions from facts, circumstances, and rela¬ 
tions. Her fault is in being too severe where a wrong is known or 
supposed to exist.” 

The husband of Mrs. S-indorsed the accuracy 

of the above delineation in a letter to Mr. W-, 

thus: — 

“-, March 16, 1857. 

“ Dear Sir : Age we can only approximate. Sex is sometimes in¬ 
distinct, but in this case it is clearly a female. 

Yours truly, - -.” 

Psychometry has assumed a new phase in connection 
with the nervous mania which is now prevalent over 
the country under the name of Spiritism. Indeed, we 
hardly know what subject, or which of the occult sci¬ 
ences, the affair of Spiritism has not infected. Of drugs, 
drugging, and dosing, with “ spirit medicine,” so called, 
it seems to have become a monopoly. Read the spiritual 








272 


PATHETISM. 


papers, and see what nostrums, what pills, what pow¬ 
ders, what “ spiritual springs,” and the like, are now in 
vogue! One medium advertises what he calls “ The 
Franklin Medal,” which “cures all forms of disease 
without fail! ” It was invented through him by the 
spirit of Dr. Franklin, and is to be worn on the fore¬ 
head of the patient, and costs from seven to twenty-five 
dollars. Many buy these nostrums because they are 
recommended by spirits out of the human body. 

Mr. M. is of this class, and he has certainly attracted 
a good deal of attention by his extraordinary assump¬ 
tions in respect to his access to the spiritual world. He 
assumes that if you write to the spirit of a dead friend, 
and send it to him sealed, with three dollars enclosed, 
he can, without opening the letter to your dead friend, 
call to his aid the spirit to whom your letter is ad¬ 
dressed, and give you the answers required. How many 
successful experiments of this kind Mr. M. has ever per¬ 
formed, I do not know; I can only say, that all his 
examinations of which I have had personal knowledge 
proved total failures. 

His first revelation for me was made voluntarily. I 
had visited the neighborhood where he lived, and held 
a conversation with one of his acquaintances respecting 
my sons, who died some years ago, but from whom I 
had never been able to get any reliable communications, 
not even in my own family, where I had seen and heard 
as much from the spirits as any other mortal, perhaps. 
This friend repeated more or less of my conversation to 
Mr. M., and shortly after he paid me a visit, announcing 
himself as a medium, and taking from his pocket a 
paper a yard long, written upon, like Ezekiel’s roll, 
“ within and without,” purporting to be a coihmunica- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


273 


tion made to him from my deceased son. Upon look¬ 
ing over the manuscript, it came out that the “spirit” 
which wrote it — whether in the body or out I could 
not say — was not my son, as it did not know its own 
name, nor the subject matter of my domestic concerns, 
of which the paper was written! 

Shortly after, hearing that Mr. M. had been successful 
in certain cases, I put two or three definite questions to 
an inhabitant of the other world, and sent them to him, 
sealed. They were these: — 

“Will you communicate with me? If so, please tell me, through 
Mr. M., when, and how, and where.” 

But the application was unsuccessful. Mr. M. com¬ 
plained that the questions were f rom a lady ! and were 
so desultory that the spirits could not answer them! 
He sent my letter back, with the message that if the 
writer would state definite questions, he would give the 
answer, without a fee. I accepted the offer, and sent 
precisely the same questions again, addressed to a dear 
friend who died in May, 1856, and who was pledged to 
communicate with me after death, if such a communi¬ 
cation were possible. Here are the questions : — 

“ To H. A. W. B. Do, please, I beseech you, H. dear, tell me 
through Mr. J. V. M., whether you will communicate with me, and if 
so, state distinctly when, and where, and in what manner. June 5,1857.” 

The letter containing these questions was handed to 
Mr. M., and left in his hands four days, when he handed 
it back to the messenger, saying that the spirits said “it 
was written by a sceptical lady, and they could not 
answer it!” Now it is not true, either that I am a 
lady, (as the psychometrists and spirit mediums will 
have it,) or that I am a sceptic either in Psychometry 
or Spiritism. 


PATHETISM. 


274 


I see no reasons for calling Psychometry a “ science.” 
Why denominate an assumption a science? Even 
Phrenology, for a similar reason, can scarcely be called 
a science. The common practice of examining heads is 
liable to some of the same objections which lie against 
Psychometry. I have sometimes thought that the 
charts might well be stereotyped; excepting a few 
“ lights and shades,” the same chart would answer for 
any number of heads; and, more so, of Psychometry; 
with a very few exceptions, the same “ delineation of 
character ” would apply to any number of individuals. 
Nor does it seem to me as at all probable, that any 
mortal may safely be considered in the light of a post¬ 
master, through whom letters may be sent to the souls 
of the dead, and which will bring authentic answers 
from the persons thus addressed. 

This notipn that different spirits infest, or respond 
through one medium, is contradicted by analogy, and 
by the facts in the case. As in Pathetism, when an 
experienced operator gets control over a good subject, 
his control remains exclusive . Nor is it unreasonable to 
suppose it must be similar in the spiritual world. The 
spirits which are low enough to come in contact with 
this external world, when they infest a mortal and 
make a medium of him, may retain exclusive control. 
Supposing these communications do ever come from 
departed spirits, this theory accounts for their varied 
character; a little truth is mixed up with a great deal 
of error, like three grains of wheat in a bushel of chaff. 
Mortals, knowing little or nothing of the spiritual 
world, get hold of a few facts which they do not under¬ 
stand and cannot account for, thus become marvellously 
excited, and think they are conversing with Lord Bacon 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


275 


or Dr. Franklin! But a more extended experience 
modifies their views, and they find many ways for 
rationally accounting for the “communications” that 
are made, without believing they came from any one of 
their own relatives or friends. Here is a wide field for 
the exercise of credulity ; the facts and the philosophy 
are a different matter, altogether. 

Visions. 

This term is now used by a numerous class of people 
to signify views alleged to be induced before the inte¬ 
rior eyes by departed spirits. Mediums are supposed to 
be “ influenced ” by personages from another world to 
give descriptions of its inhabitants and its scenery, and 
which are often relied upon as correct and truthful. 
Within the last ten years, any number of tracts, papers, 
and books have been published, all purporting to give 
accounts of “ things heard and seen in the invisible 
world.” And such have been the claims set up for these 
visions, that it would seem but a matter of simple jus¬ 
tice that we should examine their real merits, and ascer¬ 
tain, if we can, how far these reports are reliable, as a 
source of information, in respect to a world of which 
we actually know nothing at all. 

But as difficulties meet us upon the threshold of this 
subject, let us pause, and look them fairly in the face. 
Here they are : — 

1. The parties directly concerned in the manufacture 
of visions are unable to afford us any means of discrim¬ 
inating between visions that are subjective and those 
which are objective. That is, neither the “departed 
spirit,” who is said to cause the vision, nor the medium, 
on whom the “ influence ” is exerted, can demonstrate, 


276 


PATHETISM. 


from lirst to last, that there is any object actually seen 
outside the medium’s own brains. “ Visions ” we have 
in abundance, as nothing is more common than dreams. 
Now, while it cannot be shown that these visions are of 
any thing outside of the medium’s own mind, it seems 
to me the defect is fatal to the claims so often set up in 
respect to their origin. 

2. These views, when tested by the evidence which 
the visions themselves afford, are found to be unreliable 
and contradictory. Thus, — 

(1.) Take any one vision as a specimen, and it will 
be found to be intangible, inaudible, invisible, and 
unreal, in such a sense that no principle of Science or 
Philosophy can make any thing more of it than a mere 
dream. 

(2.) Different visions, by different media, of one and 
the same thing, do not agree. They do not agree when 
speaking of matters not cognizable to our external 
senses, and hence they cannot be relied upon any more 
than we can rely upon ordinary dreaming. 

(3.) It is a suspicious circumstance that these visions 
are never of tangible matters, that can be tested by a 
third party. They are always of fanciful and imaginary 
scenes of which nothing can be determined by the 
ordinary rules of evidence. An ignis fatuus is an in¬ 
teresting object for philosophical inquiry, as to its ele¬ 
ments and causes; but it is not to be followed and 
relied upon as a guide in the journey of life. And 
thus of visions; they have their Pathology, and, as a 
matter of science, it may be interesting to study their 
causes. And while I neither deny nor affirm as to what 
“ departed spirits ” can do, I am nevertheless bound to 
declare, that, as far as any thing satisfactory to philos- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


277 


ophy has been determined in respect to their origin, 
they have never as yet been traced beyond the func¬ 
tions of the human brains. To dream is precisely what 
the brains were made for doing in sleep. And to have 
visions is the abnormal work of those physical organs, 
when in certain conditions of morbid activity. 

(4.) All persons, without any exception, who can be 
entranced by Pathetism, or who can be more or less 
“ impressed ” by Pathematic processes, may be made to 
“see visions.” This I know from an experience of 
many years. And, what is worthy of remark here is, 
that among the numerous mediums who assume to have 
“spiritual visions,” I have never found one, whom I 
could entrance, that could discriminate between the 
visions which I produced by Pathetism, and those 
which they imagined to be induced by departed spirits. 
I have tested a large number of media in this way, and 
have always found that they could never distinguish 
the visions which I induced by hallucination, from those 
which they were sure must be induced by “ spirits.” I 
have elsewhere remarked upon the inability of this class 
of persons to judge as to the rationale of the “influ¬ 
ences ” which were exerted over them. Even those 
who call themselves “ inspirational ” are inspired by 
Pathetism, so that they really believe the “ influence ” 
to have come from Dr. Franklin, Galen, Lord Bacon, 
or some other imaginary personage. I have caused 
speeches and sermons to be delivered, also music, vocal 
and instrumental, and prayers to be offered by entranced 
persons, which the mediums at the time have attributed 
to some “guardian spirit,” or some “Matthew Byles,” 
“ Lorenzo Dow,” or “ Cotton Mather ” A distinguished 
orthodox clergyman present at one of my lectures in 
24 


278 


PATHETISM. 


Tremont Temple, Boston, when I caused that excel¬ 
lent young lady and remarkable somnambulist, Miss 
Ann E. Hall, to fall on her knees and pray in the true 
style of sectarianism, frankly declared on that occasion, 
that a more appropriate form of prayer he had never 
heard uttered. What I affirm here is, not that all seers 
would be willing to submit their nervous systems and 
their visions to the test of Pathetism, because they 
know, of course, if they were to do so, what the result 
would be ; but what I say is, that always, and whenever 
I have entranced mediums who believed their visions 
had been induced by spirits they could never discern 
any difference in their spirit visions, whatever, from 
the visions induced by Pathetism. Nor does it obviate 
this objection when a medium declares that “he cannot 
be entranced by Pathetism.” Of course he could not 
be “entranced” by Pathetism, when his own notions 
and habits are in the way. His saying he is willing 
does not prove that his mind is in a suitable condition. 
“ Spirits ” have their “ conditions,” without which noth¬ 
ing can be done, no vision can be seen. And so Path¬ 
etism has its conditions, which all media must comply 
with in order to be entranced by Pathetism. And 
more than this, no other theory so satisfactorily as Path¬ 
etism accounts for the fact, that a medium obsessed with 
an Idea of Spirits is not and cannot be influenced osten¬ 
sibly by Pathetism, if he has any secret fears that that 
influence will tend to dispossess him of his darling idea 
of “ Spirit influence.” One completely under the influ¬ 
ence of Pathetism could not be entranced by “ Spirits,” 
except on the conditions which Pathetism sees fit to 
determine. 

If there be laws well known which inhere in the 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


279 


nervous system, sufficient to account for some of the 
most remarkable visions that have ever occurred, let us 
not close our eyes upon these laws. If there be other 
remote and extraordinary causes, whenever they shall 
have been demonstrated and made manifest, they shall 
be duly pondered and acknowledged. My position I 
think is fully sustained by the account which the most 
remarkable visionist ever known has given of himself. 

The case of Swedenborg is extraordinary in whatever 
light it may be viewed, and because it was so very 
remarkable, because he exceeded the ordinary attain¬ 
ments of all men, both in his assumptions with regard 
to his own case, and, also, in the development of his 
scientific and literary abilities, it has been, from the first, 
a case of great difficulty, and hence the minds of all 
parties have been so much divided in relation to its true 
merits. By one class, he is denounced as nothing bet¬ 
ter than a bedlamite; by another, he is set aside as a 
great enthusiast / and a third receive all that he assumes 
in relation to himself, and consider him as supernat- 
urally inspired, and divinely made, to reveal the secrets 
of another world. But each of these opinions are the 
natural sequences of a want of correct views as to the 
nature and laws of the human mind. Swedenborg was 
neither deranged, (in the common sense of that term,) 
nor was he an enthusiast, (except as every man may be 
said to be one, in his own way;) nor was he supernat- 
urally inspired, except as the extraordinary develop¬ 
ments of his own mind gave him certain Emotions , 
Volitions , and Conceptions , which constituted the pe¬ 
culiarities in his case. How far these were truthfid , 
each one will judge for himself, according to the degrees 
in which his own mind has been developed. 


280 


PATHETISM. 


The true standard by which to judge is this: If 
Swedenborg*s mind was, in all respects, perfect, at all 
times, both when he had his conceptions of things, and 
when he wrote about those conceptions, then, in that 
case, every thing he conceived and wrote at such times 
was perfect, not susceptible of any improvement; it was 
true, in its inception, conception, and manifestation, in 
writing to the world. This is the test by which the 
case of Swedenborg must be tried, because it is pre¬ 
cisely what he has assumed with regard to himself, 
lie assumes supernatural, divine, or infallible knowl¬ 
edge. He never attempted to account for his alleged 
“ revelations ” on purely psychological principles. He 
viewed them as supernatural, in that sense that they 
were the results of “ immediate light from the Lord / ” 
they were produced, superinduced, by the operations of 
the Divine Spirit, above and beyond the natural develop¬ 
ments and exercises of his own mind. Hence he says, — 

“ By being in the spirit, is meant a state of mind separate from the 
body, and, because in that state the prophets saw such things as exist 
in the spiritual world, therefore that is called the vision of God. Their 
state, then, was such as that of spirits themselves, and angels, in that 
world. In that state, the spirit of man, like his mind, as to sight, may 
be transported from place to place, the body remaining in its own. 
This is the state in which I have now been for twenty-six years, with 
this difference, that I have been in the spirit, and at the same time in 
the body, and only several times out of the body.” — True Ch. Rel., 157. 

“This manifestation of the Lord , and intromission into the spiritual 
world, is more excellent than all miracles, but it has not been granted 
to any one since the creation of the world, as it has been to me. To 
me, it has been granted to be in both spiritual and natural light at the 
same time; and hereby I have been privileged to see the wonderful 
things of heaven, to be in company with angels, just as I am with men, 
and, at the same time, to pursue truths, in the light of truth, and thus 
to perceive and be gifted with them, — consequently, to be led by the 
Lord.” — Hobart's Life of Siced., p. 42. 

In many other portions of his writings he makes the 
same representations, affirming that he was instructed, 
or taught, by the “ Lord alone,” and in such a sense 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


281 


that he did not or could not have erred. (Sp. Diary , 
1647.) And in this sentiment the receivers of his 
writings fully concur. {Davis's Revelations , Revealed 
by Prof. Rush and Mr. Rarrett , pp. 14, 15.) And 
hence it is obvious that Swedenborg uses the term 
“ miracle ” in its common acceptation; and, if so, then 
he represents his “ Revelations ” as above nature , above 
and beyond the natural developments of mind; as 
something for which the laws of the Human Spirit are 
not sufficient to account; or results which do not come 
within the reach of those laws which develop , disturb , 
or control the human mind. In this respect, it is cer¬ 
tain that Swedenborg misapprehended the nature of his 
own case. 

There was nothing really supernatural , or “more 
excellent,” or above “ the miraculous,” in the visions of 
Swedenborg, even upon the supposition that his reports 
of alleged conversations with angels are more or less 
truthful. 

Hence, if Swedenborg’s organs of Causality were 
sufficiently developed, it was perfectly natural for him 
to have intuitive knowledge of the relations between 
causes and their effects. And if his organs of Marvel¬ 
lousness were sufficiently developed, they would nat¬ 
urally put his mind in communication with the Ideal 
world. And if either of his mental faculties were at 
any time overtaxed, or exercised beyond the healthy 
degree of their development, he would naturally mis¬ 
conceive the nature of his own case, and give, as it may 
be, true accounts of his erroneous conceptions. That 
Swedenborg’s organs of Marvellousness and Causality 
were developed in a most extraordinary degree his 
writings abundantly prove. And this fao-t, of itself, 
24 * 


282 


PATHETISM. 


increased his liability to over-exertion in their ex¬ 
ercise. 

That I am correct in this view of Swedenborg, is 
susceptible of the clearest demonstration, from his ac¬ 
count of his own case. Does any one, — will any one 
attempt to show that each of Swedenborg’s mental fac¬ 
ulties were perfectly developed, and each one of them 
were in a perfect state of health, without any interrup¬ 
tion, during twenty-six or seven years? Swedenborg’s 
own account of himself forbids such an attempt, and 
puts this matter to rest at once and forever. The fol¬ 
lowing is the first, or among the first accounts that he 
ever gave of his own case, and is abundantly sufficient 
to show that his nervous system was not invulnerable 
to disease. He says, — 

“ I dined one day rather late, by myself, at a boarding house, where I 
kept a room, in which, at pleasure, I could prosecute the study of the 
natural sciences. I was hungry , and ate with great appetite. At the 
end of the meal, I remarked that a vapor , as it were, clouded my sight. 
The walls of my chamber appeared covered with frightful creeping 
things, such as serpents, toads, and the like. I was filled with aston¬ 
ishment, but retained the full use of my perceptions and thoughts. 
The darkness attained to its height, and soon passed away. I then 
perceived a man sitting in the corner of my chamber. As I thought 
myself entirely alone, I was greatly terrified, when he spoke and said. 
Eat not so much ! The cloud once more came over my sight, and, when 
it passed away, I found myself alone in my chamber.” — Dr. Hartly. 

Now, observe, in this account, Swedenborg tells us 
that he was, at the time spoken of, “ in the full (or per¬ 
fect) use of his perceptions and thoughts,” and yet he 
was deceived, for he was not “entirely alone,” as he 
“ thought ” he was! 

This was, I believe, the beginning of his visions, but 
I do not perceive how it would be possible to make any 
thing supernatural out of it. 

There are further accounts, which Swedenborg gives 
of his health, and the state of his nervous system, which 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


283 


proves that his mind was not always in a perfectly 
healthy state : — 

“ I was once seized, suddenly, with a disease that seemed to threaten 
my life ; my whole head was oppressed with pain , a pestilential smoke 
was let in from the great city called Sodom, (Apoc. 11: 8;) half 
dead with severe anguish, I expected every moment to be my last: 
thus I lay in bed for the space of three days and a half. My spirit was 
reduced to this state, and consequently my body. Then I heard about 
me the voices of persons saying,” &c. — Brief Exp. Doc. N. Ch., p. 73. 

“ Immediately on this, I was made sensible of a remarkable change 
in the brain, and of a powerful operation thence proceeding.” — Earths 
in the Uni., p. 30. 

Now, to me, the marvel is, not that Swedenborg does 
complain of disturbances in his cerebral system, like the 
above, but, in view of his incessant mental labors, con¬ 
tinued for so many years, the wonder is, that he did not 
suffer and complain far more than he seems to have 
done. But the facts, so explicitly stated by himself, 
that he was, at times, sick, that his nervous system was 
disturbed , proves that his mental states were not perfect , 
and this proved, we are under no necessity of attempt¬ 
ing to show, in detail, the errors into which he evidently 
fell, with regard to the nature of the mind; nor is it 
necessary to show that he was deceived when he attrib¬ 
uted his toothache to “evil spirits,” (Hobart's Life , 
p. 216,) as he may have been at various other times 
when he thought himself in communication with the 
spiritual world. For we have only to admit that the 
toothache is produced by the devil, or supernatural 
agency, and it must follow, of course, that every other 
result, every other state, emotion, sensation, or volition, 
peculiar to man, is likewise induced in the same way. 

And now, while I do not here attempt the expression 
of any opinion in respect to the merits of Swedenborg’s 
theological views, which I do not profess to compre¬ 
hend, it is perhaps in place for me to say, that his own 


284 


PATHETISM. 


account of his career of visions abundantly confirms 
the views here suggested as to their nervous origin. 
There is no case of visions more wonderful, perhaps, 
than his, which, as he himself tells us, commenced in a 
disordered stomach. 

The following is an account which another philos¬ 
opher, M. Nicoli, gives of his own case. I quote from 
“ The Theory of Pneumatology,” page 402. Here are 
visions, any number of them — visions as real as any 
others, for aught that appears, and when it is considered 
how utterly impossible it is to discriminate between 
the nervous and what are supposed to be of spiritual 
origin, I do not perceive how the conclusions I have 
stated above are to be consistently avoided. Why 
should not these visions be considered genuine, and as 
reliable as any other? The account is, certainly, the 
more interesting from the fact that this visionist an¬ 
alyzes his own mental states, and, like a true philos¬ 
opher as he was, accounts for what he saw by the con¬ 
dition of his own nervous system, and when he arrives 
at the conclusion that what he saw was not objective, 
but subjective in his own mind, sound reason, science, 
and philosophy agree in the verdict thus rendered: — 

“ During the latter ten months of the year 1790, I had experi¬ 
enced several melancholy events, which affected me, particularly 
in September, from which time I suffered an almost uninterrupted 
series of misfortunes, which afflicted me with the most poignant 
grief. I was accustomed to be bled twice a year; this was done 
on the 9th of July, but was omitted to be repeated at the end of 
the year. Less blood had consequently been evacuated in 1790, 
than was usual with me; and from September I was constantly 
occupied in business which required the most unremitted exer¬ 
tion, and which was rendered still more perplexing by frequent 
interruptions. 

“In January and February of the year 1791, I had the addi¬ 
tional misfortune to experience several unpleasant circumstances, 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


285 


which were followed, on the 24th February, by a most violent 
altercation. My wife and another person came into my apart¬ 
ment, at ten o’clock in the morning, in order to console me; but 
I was too much agitated by a series of incidents which had most 
powerfully affected my moral feelings, to be capable of attending 
to them. On a sudden I perceived, at a distance of about ten 
paces, a form like that of a deceased person. I pointed at it, 
asking my wife whether she did not see it. It was but natural 
that she should not see any thing; my question therefore alarmed 
her much, and she sent directly for a physician. The phantasm 
continued about eight minutes. I grew at length more calm, and 
being extremely exhausted, fell into a restless slumber, which 
lasted about half an hour. The physician ascribed the apparition 
to violent mental excitement, and hoped there would be no re¬ 
turn ; but the violent agitation of my mind had in some way dis¬ 
ordered my nerves, and produced further consequences, which 
deserve a more minute description. 

“ At four o’clock in the afternoon, the form which I had seen 
in the morning reappeared. I was by myself when this hap¬ 
pened, and being rather uneasy at the incident, went to my wife’s 
apartment; but there likewise I was followed by the apparition, 
which, however, disappeared at intervals, and always presented 
itself in a standing posture. About six o’clock there appeared 
also walking figures, which had no connection with the first. 

“ I cannot assign any other cause for all this than a continued 
rumination on the vexations I had endured, which, though 
calmer, I could not forget, and the consequences of which I med¬ 
itated to counteract. These agitations occupied my mind three 
hours after dinner, just when digestion commenced. I consoled 
myself at length with respect to the disagreeable incident which 
had occasioned the first apparition ; but the phantasms continued 
to increase and change in the most singular manner, though I 
had taken the proper medicines, and found myself perfectly well. 

“ When the first terror was over, as I beheld these phantasms 
without great emotion, whilst taking them for what they really 
were — the remarkable consequences of an indisposition, I en¬ 
deavored to collect myself as much as possible, that I might pre¬ 
serve a clear consciousness of the changes that should inwardly 
take place in me. I observed these phantasms very closely, and 
frequently reflected on my antecedent thoughts, to discover, if 
possible, by means of what association exactly these forms pre¬ 
sented themselves to my imagination. I thought at times I had 
found a clew; but taking the whole together, I could not make 
out any natural connection between the state of my mind, my 
occupations, train of thoughts, and the multifarious forms which 


^6 


PATHETISM. 


now appeared to me, and then again disappeared. After re¬ 
peated and close observations, and a calm examination, I was 
unable to form any conclusion relative to the origin and duration 
of the different phantasms w r hich presented themselves to me. 
All that I could infer was, that while my nervous system was in 
such an irregular state, such phantasms would appear to me as if 
I actually saw and heard them, that these illusions were not mod¬ 
ified by any known laws of reason, imagination, or the common 
association of ideas, — and that probably other people, who may 
have had similar apparitions, were exactly in the same predic¬ 
ament. The origin of the individual forms which appeared to 
me was undoubtedly founded on the state of my mind ; but the 
manner in which it was thus affected will probably remain as 
inscrutable as the origin of thought and reflection. 

“ After the first day, the form of the deceased person no longer 
appeared; but in its place many other phantasms, sometimes rep¬ 
resenting acquaintances, but mostly strangers. Those whom I 
knew consisted of both living and deceased persons, but the 
number of the latter was comparatively small. I observed that 
persons with whom I daily conversed did not appear as phan¬ 
tasms ; these representing chiefly persons who lived at some dis¬ 
tance from me. I attempted to produce at pleasure phantasms 
of persons whom I knew, by attentively reflecting on their coun¬ 
tenance, shape, &c.; but distinctly as I recalled to my lively 
imagination the respective shapes of these persons, I still labored 
in vain to make them appear to me as phantasms, though I had 
before involuntarily seen them in that manner, and perceived 
them some time after, when I least thought of them. These 
phantasms appeared to me contrary to my inclination, as if 
they were presented to me from without, like the phenomena 
of nature, though they existed nowhere but within my mind. 1 
could at the same time plainly distinguish between phantasms 
and real objects; and the calmness with which I examined them 
enabled me to avoid committing the smallest mistake. I knew 
it exactly when it only appeared to me that the door was opening, 
and a phantasm entering the room, and when it actually opened, 
and a real person entered. 

“ These phantasms appeared to me equally clear and distinct 
at all times, and under all circumstances — both when I was alone 
and when I was in company, as well in the day as at night, and 
in my own house, as well as abroad. They were, however, less 
frequent when I was in the house of a friend, and rarely appeared 
to me in the street. When I shut my eyes, these phantasms 
would sometimes disappear entirely, though there were instances 
when I beheld them with my eyes closed; yet when they disap- 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


,287 


peared on such occasions, they generally reappeared when I 
again opened my eyes. I conversed occasionally with the physi¬ 
cian and my wife, respecting the phantasms which surrounded 
me at the moment. They appeared more frequently walking 
than at rest, nor were they constantly present. They frequently 
did not appear for some time; but always reappeared for a longer 
or shorter period, either singly or in company; the latter, how¬ 
ever, was most often the case. 

“ I generally saw human forms of both sexes; but they usually 
seemed not to take the smallest notice of each other, moving as 
in a market place, where all are eager to press through a crowd. 
At times, however, they seemed to be transacting business with 
each other. I also repeatedly saw people on horseback, dogs, 
and birds. All these phantasms appeared to me in their natural 
size, and as distinct as if alive, exhibiting different shades of car¬ 
nation in the uncovered parts, as well as different colors and 
fashions of their dress, though the colors seemed to me paler 
than in real nature. None of the figures appeared particularly 
terrible, comical, or disgusting; most of them being of an indif¬ 
ferent shape, and some having a pleasing appearance. The 
longer these phantasms continued to appear the more frequently 
did they return, whilst at the same time they increased in 
number. 

“ About four weeks after their first appearance, I began also 
to hear them speak. They sometimes conversed among them¬ 
selves, but more frequently they directed their discourse to me. 
Their speeches were commonly short, and never of an unpleasant 
tenor. Several times I saw beloved and sensible friends of both 
sexes, whose addresses tended to appease my grief, which had 
not w'holly subsided. These consolatory speeches were in gen¬ 
eral addressed to me when I was alone; sometimes, however, I 
was accosted by these consoling friends whilst in company, even 
while real persons were speaking to me. These consolatory 
addresses consisted sometimes of abrupt phrases, and at others 
they were regularly connected. 

“ Though both my mind and body were in a tolerable state of 
sanity at this time, and these phantasms became so familiar to 
me that they did not cause me the slightest uneasiness — I even 
sometimes amused myself with surveying them, and spoke joc¬ 
ularly of them to the physician and my wife; yet I did not neg¬ 
lect to use the proper medicines, especially when they began to 
haunt me the whole day, and even at night as soon as I awoke. 

“ At last, it was agreed that leeches should again be applied 
to me, as formerly, which was accordingly done on the 20th of 
April, 1791, at eleven o’clock in the morning. No one was with 


288 


PATHETISM. 


me besides the surgeon, but during the operation my chamber 
was crowded with human phantasms of all descriptions. This 
continued without interruption, till about half past four, just 
when my digestion commenced. I then perceived that they 
began to move more slowly; soon after, their colors began to 
fade; and at seven o’clock they were entirely white, and moved 
very little, though the forms were as distinct as before; growing, 
however, by degrees more obscure, yet not fewer in number, as 
had generally been the case. The phantasms did not withdraw’, 
nor did they vanish, which, previous to that time, had frequently 
occurred. They now seemed to dissolve in the air, "whilst frag¬ 
ments of them continued visible a considerable time. About 
eight o’clock the room was entirely cleared of my fantastic 
visitors. 

“ Since that period, I have felt twice or three times a sensation 
as if these phantasms were going to reappear, without, however, 
actually seeing any thing. The same sensation surprised me just 
before I drew’ up this account, whilst I was examining some 
papers relative to these apparitions, which I had drawn up in the 
year 1791.” 

Certainly it cannot be a matter of doubt as to the 
human origin of these visions. And if sights, such as 
these constitute visions, all persons must be more or less 
likely to have them, inasmuch as all are liable to de¬ 
rangements of the cerebral functions. Those of a cer¬ 
tain temperament always experience more or less of 
them, and others “see visions” only when artificially 
wrought upon, and the mental functions are abnormally 
excited. The late Theodore Parker gave me the fol¬ 
lowing account of his own experience. When in col¬ 
lege, as he was one day passing over the bridge to 
Cambridge, he saw, a few yards before him, what ap¬ 
peared to be a stalwart negro, walking in the same 
direction. Occasionally the spectre turned around and 
laughed; and finally it bestrode the fence and disap¬ 
peared. The form was transparent, and while Mr. 
Parker was engaged in its examination, he noticed 
that he could see through it distinctly objects beyond. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


289 


He supposed it was caused by the severe draughts he 
had been making about that time upon his nervous 
system in the prosecution of his studies. 

Volumes might be filled with similar accounts. And 
what would they prove ? Why, simply, that the human 
brains are liable to various disturbances, which cause 
these results.* And while these “appearances” are 
merely occasional or incidental with some, in others 
they become a confirmed habit; and, unable to account 
for them by the laws that inhere in themselves, they 
erroneously attribute them to “ influences ” or person¬ 
ages who come to them from another world! 

Nervous Phenomena. 

It was characteristic of the ages past to look upon 
the phenomena, such as we have referred to in the pre¬ 
ceding pages, as supernatural in their origin. The 
subjects of these mysterious notions, were supposed to 
have been “moonstruck,” “bewitched,” or “possessed 
by the devil.” Such have been the subterfuges of 
ignorance, always, to substitute one absurdity for an¬ 
other, and when unable to account for the phenomena, 
the only thing the ancients could do was to say that 
“God” or the “Devil” did it. And now it seems 
strange that the race should have been so very slow in 
arriving at the correct solution of these mysteries. 
Indeed, it is difficult to believe, that scarcely two hun¬ 
dred years ago men, women, and little children were 
put to death, merely because they could not give any 
satisfactory account of the nervous states of which they 
had become the unwilling subjects. Such was the 
ignorance of the magistrates, the medical men, and the 
clergv, that we cannot perceive how any satisfactory 
25 


290 


PATHETISM. 


solution of these mysterious states could have been 
made to them. The true state of the case they were 
utterly incapable of appreciating, and all they could 
understand or believe, in respect to those phenomena, 
was, that the subjects of them were bewitched, and in 
league with the devil. 

The farther back we go in the history of the world, 
the greater we find the ignorance, not of the masses 
merely, but of those foremost in erudition on all sub¬ 
jects. And so deep an impression did the ignorance of 
those dark ages make upon civil and ecclesiastical insti¬ 
tutions, that, at the present time, those old notions in 
respect to the “ influence ” and agency of “ the devil,” 
obtain in our creeds and courts of justice. Crimes are 
now “ legally ” supposed to be “ instigated by the devil,” 
and that mythical personage still holds a distinguished 
place in the prayers, sermons, and exhortations of the 
Christian priesthood. Instead ofi considering man as 
the sole and responsible author of his own actions, and 
looking to the nervous functions for the causes of all 
the nervous states of which he becomes the subject, 
there is still a widespread and prevalent tendency to 
trace the nervous phenomena we witness to remote and 
supernatural causes. 

Having, myself, been familiar, for many years, with 
the nervous results common in “ revivals,” in states of 
the trance, in somnambulism, “ visions,” and “ prophetic 
dreams,” it may not seem strange if I should not be so 
ready as some others are to attribute these things to 
departed spirits. Let me not be misunderstood here. 
While I affirm nothing of a world of which I do not 
profess any knowledge, what I state is, that it is diffi¬ 
cult for me to get in the way of attributing to spirits 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


291 


the results that look so much like what I have known 
as nervous phenomena for forty years. It may be easy 
for you to do so, but it is not for me. 

We are all but too apt to imagine that our own ex¬ 
perience includes the whole subject, whereas, we need 
to include in our knowledge, not merely our own indi¬ 
vidual experience, but w*e should know the experience 
of the largest number of others on this complex and 
difficult subject. A conversation with a few hundred 
operators in Pathetism, and a familiar acquaintance 
with a thousand somnambulists, depend upon it, would 
be of some benefit, even to the wisest of us. And, 
then, if you had acquainted yourself with the many 
remarkable “cases” reported in English, German, and 
French works, it might be no disadvantage in this in¬ 
vestigation. Or what, perhaps, is equally, or still more 
important, is the history of all popular excitements 
which have run into mania. What do you know of 
the Crusades, their origin, and the means by which the 
people were enlisted to carry on that stupendous 
mania ? What of the French prophets, who had their 
“ mediums,” their “ visions,” like multitudes of the pres¬ 
ent day, and their wonderful communications from the 
invisible world? What of the “preaching epidemic” 
in Sweden, some fifteen years ago, which, in its effects 
on children, and their praying, preaching, and clairvoy¬ 
ant revelations, resembled, in all respects, the present 
spiritual mania in this country? And, the past year, 
“ a great religious revival ” is reported in that country, 
in which these same nervous phenomena have been 
acted over again, and some two hundred and fifty thou¬ 
sand men, women, and children, we are told, have be¬ 
come victims to the recent mental epidemic. 


292 


PATHETISM. 


In Ireland, also, lately, similar nervous phenomena 
have appeared in “thegreat revival,” which has obtained 
among the masses in that country. And the following 
facts will be found true, I think, by all who render 
themselves familiar with the history of all similar pop¬ 
ular excitements: — 

1. That they have always prevailed to the greatest 
extent when and where the masses have been the most 
ignorant, especially in matters appertaining to Psychol¬ 
ogy. Indeed, revival preachers have always been 
known to complain most of those places where the 
people were the most enlightened in respect to the 
constitution of man. 

2. Among those sects which have discountenanced 
these nervous phenomena, the “revival spirit” has 
actually died out, and “ revivals,” technically so called, 
are unknown among them. Among the Methodists, 
Baptists, Presbyterians, and other sects who formerly 
promoted these nervous phenomena, under the name of 
“revivals,” they have ceased, whenever and wherever 
the ministers and leading men have once set their 
faces against these nervous excitements. It was so in 
the “ Great Kentucky Revival,” so called, an account of 
which I have already given. It was not until the sum¬ 
mer of 1803, that any successful effort was made to 
resist the torrent of abuses. The honor of that effort 
was reserved for a Mr. Lyle. With the tenderest feel¬ 
ings, he was yet a bold and intrepid champion for the 
truth. Notwithstanding he saw his popularity and 
influence diminishing, he unflinchingly persevered in 
expressing his decided disapprobation, publicly and pri¬ 
vately, till at last he found his perseverance rewarded. 

Aided by the close observation which we know, from 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


293 


his Diary, he had been making for nearly three years, 
he prepared, with great care, a sermon on Order , which, 
after submitting privately to some of his brethren, he 
preached at Walnut Hill, on the second Sunday of 
July, 1803. This sermon, Mr. Stuart informs us, “had 
a happy effect.” Mr. Lyle himself records, that the 
people were, generally, very attentive, and the majority 
much pleased with the discourse, although a few gain- 
sayed. Some grew angry, and argued in opposition, 
and even endeavored to promote the confusion of inter¬ 
mingled exercises, but in vain. Mrs. B. and a few oth¬ 
ers fell, and created some disturbance, but moderation 
triumphed, and from that time the falling, jerking, roll¬ 
ing, running, dancing, and barking exercises ceased. 
They had never been once checked by the indecencies 
and the fanatical excesses by which many of them had 
been accompanied. Indeed, those very abominations 
were a part and parcel of the works alleged to have 
been done under “ spirit influence,” and it is never for 
Satan himself to rebuke sin. 

But the effects of Mr. Lyle’s preaching show what 
salvation often comes from a common sense view of 
even strange things, and hence it has been very much 
for the want of this element in religious teachers that 
these nervous excesses have ever been tolerated under 
the perverted name of piety or religion. 

I suppose I have myself witnessed nearly all the 
forms of nervous excitement that have ever occurred in 
mental epidemics. Nor have I ever heard of any mar¬ 
vels alleged to have been acted out by mediums which 
exceed in wonder what I have seen done by persons 
entranced in my lectures, some of which I have de¬ 
scribed elsewhere, and need not be repeated here. 

25 * 


294 


PATHETISM. 


Remember how the criminal died, who erroneously 
believed he was bleeding to death. What was it that 
killed him? What should the “influence” be called, 
that stopped his pulse and his breath forever? And, 
when you shall have answered this question, you will 
have also informed me in respect to the “influence” by 
which all revivals are got up, and by -which mediums 
are often, if not always, entranced. Some leading idea 
gets possession of the mind, and that idea is always 
present, excites, subdues, and controls the minds of a 
certain class. It may be the idea of Methodism, Mor- 
monism, Shakerism, or Spiritism. Each idea has its 
own characteristics, and operates on certain tempera¬ 
ments accordingly. 

The conclusions to be drawn from a large number of 
cases like these are obvious. The public mind becomes 
intensely excited with a leading idea respecting spirits, 
real or imaginary. It is all connected with the invisi¬ 
ble world, the most startling of any subject which 
could possibly arrest the attention of the great masses 
of people. See, now, how easy it must be for persons 
of a certain temperament to believe they are operated 
on by spirits, as the man believed he was operated on 
by the chloroform, when there was no chloroform in 
the inhaler. And, as it is so manifestly dangerous to 
tamper with the nervous system in this manner, I infer 
the only safe way is to consider mortals responsible for 
what mortals do. The actions of all human beings are 
to be accounted for by mundane laws. To yield up 
the nervous system to these abnormal states, whether 
they be induced by spirits in the body or out, real or 
imaginary, is attended with danger, both to body and 
mind. Hence so many mediums become “nervous,” 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


295 


44 excitable,” opinionated, hallucinated, and insane; and 
thus come some of the worst forms of fanaticism that 
have ever cursed the world. 

I am aware how common it is to find persons who 
have had but a limited experience in experimental Psy¬ 
chology, speaking and writing respecting “the trance 
state,” as if they were the conservatories of all that was 
to be known on this subject. It is never safe to attrib¬ 
ute the phenomena that occur to remote and extraordi¬ 
nary causes, when they may, with equal propriety, be 
referred to causes which obviously exist, and the results 
of which we daily observe. 

This maxim is a sound one, and it compels me to 
hold mortals responsible for all that I see them do. 
When, therefore, mediums do certain things, and then 
turn around and throw the responsibility on some real 
or imaginary inhabitant of another world, I raise my 
voice of warning against such things as abnormal , and 
mischievous in their tendency. Some few may do so, 
and not be conscious of any injury. But look at the 
history of all religious fanaticisms, and you will find, 
without an exception, they have originated in this kind 
of conduct among mortals. They did or said certain 
things, and put all the responsibility upon an invisible 
inhabitant of another world. And when such conduct 
becomes common, in any family or any community; 
when it originates a class of teachers, who hold meetings 
from week to week, then such things constitute a ma?iia y 
and its victims are involved in fanaticisms and suicide. 
Alas! what delusions, what errors have “crept in” 
during the past ages, under this idea of responsibility, 
thrown upon imaginary personages, inhabiting another 
world! 


296 


PATHETISM. 


For the purpose of showing that, when mediums are 
said to act unconsciously, there is in such cases an invis¬ 
ible spirit, acting outside the medium, a Spiritual paper 
says,— 

“ The notion that human beings can and do unconsciously perform 
acts requiring the action of the mental faculties , is, to our apprehen¬ 
sion, a palpable fantasy.” 

I suppose the writer is here speaking of that con¬ 
sciousness, peculiar to our waking and responsible life, 
that normal state, which renders a man responsible for 
what he does. And if so, this editor ignores the phe¬ 
nomena of spontaneous somnambulism, dreaming, and 
insanity. The actions peculiar to a state of insanity, 
intoxication, and idiopathic or spontaneous somnambu¬ 
lism, may be said to be automatic and unconsciously 
performed. And such actions have occurred all over 
the world, and the persons performing them have had 
no consciousness whatever, either at the time or after 
they were done. But this editor calls these well-known 
facts a “notion,” “a palpable fantasy.” Well, perhaps 
we shall, by and by, get some new ideas as to what the 
term fantasy should mean. 

All abnormal states of the mind partake more or less 
of insanity, in which “orderly actions” are uncon¬ 
sciously performed. He says, again, — 

“The notion that the * nervous system * is capable of being so excited 
by any cause, (except that of an active, self-conscious mind,) so as to 
produce intellectual phenomena of an orderly , elevated, and superior 
character, is, also, an entire delusion.” 

The nervous system may be and is excited by alcohol, 
by gas, by food, by colors, by light, by darkness, indeed, 
by a word, or a thought even, so that the mind, without 
normal consciousness, may perform orderly and superior 
actions; that is, the mind may speak or write on any 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


297 


given subject. But in these abnormal excitements, the 
mind is, usually, insane (as it were) on one subject at a 
time; that is, the person is not in a condition to fulfil 
all the relations of life; no more than he would be if 
excited all the time to an immoderate fit of laughter or 
weeping. That we do often act without normal con¬ 
sciousness, (even while in the feetal state,) is proved by 
the experience of the race. 

But then, observe here, that this idea as to the opera¬ 
tion of one’s mind on his own nervous system, is pe¬ 
culiar to my theory of Pathetism, and the very gist of 
my argument in respect to these idiopathic trances, now 
common under the name of Spiritism; and, as I have 
attempted to show, a word, a thought, may excite the 
mind and set it in motion. Thus the mind and the 
nervous system reciprocally affect each other, until a 
state of trance or insanity is brought about. When an 
idea of “ghosts,” the “devil,” “hell,” the “wrath of 
God,” or a departed spirit once takes complete posses¬ 
sion of the “ conscious mind,” the nervous system may 
be thus excited and carried into a state of trance and 
insanity. Again, this editor says,— 

“ The notion that persons ‘ fall spontaneously into a state ot trance/ 
and then, of themselves, give utterance to ‘extraordinary things/ 
which otherwise they are incapable of, is also, to our apprehension, 
wholly an unsubstantiated assumption.” 

What I mean by the spontaneous trance, is, those 
cases which are not caused by the direct and known 
volition of any other human being. The trance, in 
such cases, may be said to be idiopathic, resulting from 
the idiosyncrasy of the patient. This subject of idio¬ 
syncrasies is intricate, and I could not attempt to do it 
justice here. But it is susceptible of the clearest proof, 
that my position is the true one, the one always adopted 


•298 


PATHETISM. 


by those having the largest experience in Psychology. 
The conclusion to my own mind, therefore, is, that this 
editor is not so well informed on this subject as he him¬ 
self may have imagined. How else am I to account for 
it that he ignores the following facts, viz., — that all 
mediums, all somnambulic persons, all w r ho are suscep¬ 
tible to those influences or means which bring on a 
state of trance, — all these persons, after having been 
once entranced, may entrance themselves by their own 
volition? This w*as one of the first things connected 
with this subject I discovered years ago, and which you 
will find announced in my book published in 1843. 
And yet it is an important fact, of which the Spiritual 
editors, mediums, and teachers do not seem to be very 
familiar. But, let it be borne in mind by all who wish 
to know the truth, that any medium can put him or 
herself to sleep, or by their own will can bring on the 
trance, as many of them are, doubtless, in the habit of 
doing. Hence, as long as we know that persons of a 
certain temperament can entrance themselves, why 
should we be expected to attribute the trance* to de¬ 
parted spirits — an assumption which never has been, 
and, in my opinion, never can be satisfactorily proved ? 

This writer says, “Persons who fall spontaneously 
into a state of trance,” cannot, “of themselves, give 
utterance to extraordinary things,” which, out of the 
trance, they could not do. Well, now, it is sufficient 
for me to say in reply to this unsupported assertion, 
that I have known thousands of persons to put them¬ 
selves into the trance, or to fall into it without any 
volition of another person, and, while in that state, they 
have unconsciously performed orderly actions. This 
statement is susceptible of far more proof than is the 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


299 


one which attributes the trance, in any case, to departed 
spirits. 

Hundreds on hundreds of people have fallen into the 
trance in my public lectures all over the country, and, 
in that state, have come upon my platform, saying that 
my volition had caused them to come to me, and all 
this when I had never exercised any will on them in 
particular at all! Nay, I have had persons fall into the 
trance whom I had never seen ; and how could my will 
affect one of whom I had no knowledge ? That people 
fall into a state of trance, from their own thoughts , I 
know very well, as every intelligent operator in Path- 
etism knows. It is so in all religious revivals, in all 
lectures on Pathetism, and in “ Spiritism.” And thus, 
in my experiments on persons in a state of trance, my 
patients have danced, sung, made speeches, and done 
innumerable things, of the particulars of which I never 
had any direct, special volition, and, indeed, of which I 
could have none, for my patients often said and did 
many things that I never thought of till they were done. 

By a word or suggestion I have often excited a par¬ 
ticular faculty of* the mind, or a number of faculties, as 
language and veneration. In this way, Miss Hall’s 
mind was excited to offer that beautiful prayer in Tre- 
mont Temple, pronounced by Rev. H. Winslow to be 
as appropriate in language and tone as any thing of the 
kind he ever heard. That prayer was the production 
of her own mind, abnormally excited in a state of 
trance. All that any operator can do at first, for in¬ 
ducing the trance, is to address the external senses of 
the patient; he thus sets the machinery of the patient's 
own nervous system to work, which, through the pa¬ 
tient’s own mind, self-induces the trance. And precisely 


300 


PATHETISM. 


so may the patient’s mind become impressed with an 
ideal cause, and from such a cause may be made sick or 
well, or thrown into a state of trance, and perhaps 
become insane and commit suicide, as numbers of me¬ 
diums are known to have done. 

Indeed, this becoming possessed or bewitched with 
an idea of something invisible, is the gist of insanity. 
The sick man is nauseated by the thought of an emetic, 
and it is from this susceptibility of the human mind 
that amulets, charms, and philters have their power; 
and the same remark may be made of the so-called 
“ magnetized coin,” or the article held in the hand, in 
all Pathematic experiments. And if a mere idea of a 
piece of wood or metal is sufficient to induce the trance, 
so is an idea of spirits, real or imaginary, who inhabit 
another world. The nervous system in such cases is 
not controlled by the actual state of things, but more 
or less by the patient’s belief as to the effects which the 
agency will or will not have upon him. And it is curi¬ 
ous to see how completely the minds of certain persons 
are often hallucinated in respect to their efforts to resist 
certain influences, proposed to be exerted over them. 
They will often strive in a contrary direction from that 
which they imagine, and will exert themselves to do the 
very things which they think they would not do I 
Such is the nature of the human mind, which renders it 
liable to hallucinations; and these hallucinations, too 
long continued, become monomania, insanity, and death. 

Now, let it be borne in mind that my complaint is 
not against the legitimate fact of Spiritism, that spirits 
can and do communicate with mortals. My complaint 
is, that mortals are unduly excited by this fact, carried 
away with it, made insane by it, and thus surrendering 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


301 


tlieir nervous systems and their selfhood to the control 
of spirits, real or imaginary, we cannot tell which, this 
excitement becomes epidemic — a mania; and thus it is 
that Spiritism ignores some of the most clearly-proved 
laws of Psychology, such as appertain to sympathetic 
imitative results in mediums. 

A lady in New York was told by a fortune-teller, 
(“Old Jones,”) that if she would look into her cistern 
at such an hour on such a day, she would see the coffin 
in which she should s6on be buried. The lady did as 
she was directed,, saw her corpse, and died of course, 
according to the prediction. Such are the susceptibili¬ 
ties of the human mind, which are ignored by Spiritism, 
not indeed by all Spiritists, but by such as are com¬ 
pletely carried away by this all-prevailing mania. In 
this way merely nervous phenomena are erroneously 
attributed to remote and extraordinary causes, and in¬ 
vested with a solemnity and an importance that does 
not belong to them. 

As we have seen, the different terms by which these 
changes in the nervous states are designated, does not 
determine their nature, nor the causes by which they 
may have been induced. And nothing is gained for 
science when we multiply causes for the phenomena 
that occur. While we find a law always present in the 
nervous system adequate for the induction of all the 
nervous phenomena that occur, we are not allowed to 
look for other causes outside of the human mind. 

The fact that the human mind may be, and is, more 
or less a participant in all changes which occur in the 
nervous system, makes it difficult for uninformed per¬ 
sons to discriminate and judge in these matters. And 
yet it is certainly safe for us all to follow where superior 
26 


302 


PATIIETISM. 


goodness and wisdom seem to lead. Be willing to 
learn. As the proverb has it, “ Let us be friends, and 
put out the devil’s eyes.” 

Xdiopathy. 

% 

Having weighed the facts detailed in the preceding 
pages, let me hope the reader is now' better prepared to 
enter upon the consideration of w'hat may be denomi¬ 
nated the gist of these mysteries. All things are alike 
mysterious until rendered familiar, when they cease to 
excite surprise by the frequency of their occurrence. 
When told that certain persons have a temperament, an 
idiosyncrasy for certain states, w*e wdsh to know' w'hat 
makes the temperament, what constitutes the idiosyn¬ 
crasy. If A, with auburn hair, is more likely to “ see 
visions ” than B, w T ith black hair, will it subserve any 
decidedly useful purpose to know precisely what ele¬ 
ments enter into the composition of auburn hair? We 
have, it seems to me, made some important advance in 
science, when experience and observation have recog¬ 
nized the marks wdiich accompany the idiosyncrasy, in 
any given case, and this knowledge may certainly be 
turned to useful purposes, even while w'e may not be 
able to solve the problem as to the real essence of mat¬ 
ter or of motion, or whether essence applies to the term 
motion at all. 

Temperament, or the mixture of the mental and 
physical which constitutes the individual frame, has 
reference to the external form of the body, and also to 
the state of the mind, without any reference to the 
composition of either. Temper, from tempora , to gov¬ 
ern or dispose, refers to the special modes of being dis¬ 
posed or organized. Phrenology has brought this term 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


303 


into use, but it does not seem, to me to be sufficiently 
specific. We want a term which is comprehensive; as 
the subject is nothing less than Human Nature. And 
how vast, how complicated, this subject is, language 
itself is inadequate for explaining. The elements which 
enter into the composition of the body and the mind 
are the same in number, so that Human Nature is the 
same the world over. But, as these elements are va¬ 
ried in their proportions, ad infinitum , it becomes man¬ 
ifest what a variety there must be in our temperaments. 
Hence it is out of the question to think of classifying 
them under three general heads, Lymphatic, Sanguine, 
and Bilious. We might as well undertake to classify 
the Race under the terms of the sickly, the sleepy, the 
growing, the breathing, the laughing, the weeping, the 
singing, the eating, the drinking, the walking, the labor¬ 
ing temperaments. For, in all these respects, and in a 
thousand others not named, human beings do certainly 
differ in their temperaments. There are, however, a 
few arbitrary terms which enable us the better to desig¬ 
nate the general differences in men. Thus, when we 
see persons with black hair, dark skin, moderate fulness, 
and much firmness of flesh, with harshly-expressed out¬ 
line of person, we say the temperament is Vital. The 
functions partake of great energy of action, which ex¬ 
tends to the brains; and the countenance, in conse¬ 
quence, shows strong, marked, and decided features. It 
gives the mental and physical ability for endurance. 

And those who have well-defined forms, moderate 
plumpness of person, firmness of flesh, with ruddiness of 
countenance, we say partake largely of the Motive Tem¬ 
perament. It is marked by great activity of the blood¬ 
vessels, fondness for exercise, and an animated coun- 


304 


PATHETISM. 


tenance. The brains partake of the general state, and 
are active. 

And those who have fine, thin hair, thin skin, small, 
thin muscles, quickness in muscular motion, paleness of 
countenance, and often delicate health, are of the Men¬ 
tal or Nervous Temperament. And so we find that 
class of persons most likely to be influenced by sympa¬ 
thetic imitation , partake of what may be denominated 
the Sympathetic or Yielding Temperament. This is a 
combination of the Mental and the Motive, with large 
developments of Benevolence, Suavity, Love, and Imi¬ 
tation. Persons of this combination have either light 
hair or very soft black hair, blue eyes, and fair com¬ 
plexion. 

And a Temperament we might call the Apathetic , 
distinguishable by a round form of the body, softness 
of the muscular system, repletion of the cellular tissue, 
fair hair, and a pale, clear skin. It is accompanied by 
languid vital action, with weakness and slowness in the 
circulation. The brains, as a part of the system, are 
also slow, languid, and feeble in their actions, and the 
mental manifestations are proportionally weak. 

And when Firmness, Resistance, and Aversion pre¬ 
dominate, we say the Temperament is Antipathetic. 
Such persons are not easily “impressed” or “influ¬ 
enced” by the ordinary processes, in mental epidemics. 

From experience and observation alone, we find the 
correspondences in what we call the Temperament, the 
Idiosyncrasy, and the “influences” which operate in the 
production of spiritual contagion. So that, in given 
conditions of society, we can prognosticate, not merely 
in respect to physical, but also in respect to mental dis¬ 
eases. For here, as elsewhere, Nature has her corres¬ 
pondences. 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


305 


Persons perfectly healthy are often infected by con¬ 
tagion. And thus it is in the mental world; persons 
who have no apparent idiopathic tendencies to the 
trance, or to be influenced by the laws of sympathetic 
imitation, are infected by mental epidemics, and often 
carried away by nervous excesses and extremes of 
fanaticism. Thus I have found multitudes of “spirit 
media,” who, never having been “influenced” by any 
Pathematic processes, nevertheless find themselves 
“ impressed ” and obsessed by the idea of “ spirit influ¬ 
ence ” in a spiritual epidemic. Such persons very read¬ 
ily conclude that they are not susceptible to “ mesmeric ” 
influences, and they are confident that they could never 
be Pathetized! Of course they could not, and for the 
obvious reason, no one can be obsessed by two opposing 
ideas at one and the same time. A toper, intoxicated 
with brandy, may defy you to intoxicate him with 
whiskey. 

Pathetism explains how it is, and why it is, that per¬ 
sons who seem to have no diathesis for the trance, do 
nevertheless become “ impressed ” in the heat and ex- 
citement'Common in mental epidemics. It requires the 
heat common to mental epidemics to impress such per¬ 
sons, and when that heat is sufficiently intense , the 
hardest cases are melted, as the history of all revivals 
and mental epidemics abundantly proves. And for the 
nervous system not to yield when the influences brought 
to bear upon the mind are so very powerful, would 
prove that we are not human beings. The feathered 
tribes, and we may say the whole animal kingdom, are 
affected by similar causes. They become excited by 
certain sounds of distress,' and a battle between two of 
the canine race is sure to “ influence ” all of the same 
26 * 


306 


PATHETISM. 


genus that are within hearing distance. The misfortune 
is not that we have nervous systems, not that we may 
be compelled to yield under a given amount of pressure 
from without, but rather, that we should not have a 
better knowledge of ourselves, and know how we may 
always turn all the influences surrounding us to the 
best account possible. 

And yet, after all that has'been, or can be said as to 
the idiosyncrasies or the temperaments of different per¬ 
sons, there is still something in the idiopathy of each 
one, which, when understood, will enable us to see why 
and how it is that he is affected in any given way. 
What, therefore, as to the elementary constitution, the 
primary motions, the foundation work of each super¬ 
structure ? How was it begun ? What were the ma¬ 
terials used? How were they put together, and in 
what proportions ? Now, if we could only tell precisely 
how much and in what proportions oxygen, nitrogen, 
hydrogen, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, chlorine, 
sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and fluorine 
were mixed or combined in the composition of each 
person, the mystery in each case might be solved, per¬ 
haps. Not that I suppose it would be possible for any 
one fully to comprehend himself, or to lift himself by 
his own shoe strings. No lid was ever big enough to 
cover itself. We comprehend what is below, not that 
which is above. 

Physical disease surrounds us on every hand, from the 
cradle to the grave ; and yet, as to what disease is, how 
very little is known. What of those motions which 
constitute pain ? What chemistry has ever been able 
to reveal to us the real difference between the mind that 
feels the pain and the living tissue where the pain is 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


807 


located ? What is it that moves the muscles, diminish¬ 
ing them in one part, and swelling them out in another 
part? What is it that contracts and expands the same 
muscle at one and the same instant of time ? And are 
we not compelled to confess here that we do not know. 
The precise how this is done is inexplicable, and beyond 
our comprehension. 

In the study of Pathology, no satisfactory results 
can be arrived at where the investigations are not rad¬ 
ical and thorough. No element, nothing which respects 
time, motion, proportions, or precedents, all and sin¬ 
gular which make up the original and all the subsequent 
conditions of all the parts, must be known. We must 
know what were the elements, how mixed or combined, 
and the resultant phenomena, in parents and offspring, 
for succeeding generations, before we can form a reli¬ 
able judgment, in any case of ordinary disease of the 
body. 

But in all mental epidemics, the mind is implicated, 
and the difficulties are multiplied a thousand fold. 
Palsy, plague, and fever, the Asiatic cholera in its most 
frightful aspects, or any other physical maladies, are not 
to be compared with those that involve the human 
mind. There are no patent nostrums, no pills of “roots 
and herbs,” no “ electrical powders,” no sirups, for the 
cure of human folly. Ignorance is a mental disease, a 
defect, for the cure of which no “patent right” has yet 
been granted. And yet we all know, that the greatest 
complaint of the age is the want of wisdom, the want 
of information in respect to the laws which are older 
than ourselves, and w'hich have made us what we are. 
The great work to be done, therefore, in healing the 
nations, is the diffusion of knowledge among the people. 


308 


PATHETISM. 


Alas, that we know so very little, as yet, of our own 
composition! Or, if you know, then inform me, why 
does A love B, or why is C offensive to A ? Why is it 
that D cannot endure the presence of a spider, a live 
hare, or a cat? How is it to be explained that E can 
never endure the sight of a fish? That F has fits? 
That G talks and walks in his sleep ? H never does 
either the one or the other. Mr. Nunn, one of the sur¬ 
geons of the Middlesex Hospital, London, informs us 
that honey-comb has produced in a patient swelling of 
the tongue, frothing of the mouth, and blueness of the 
fingers; that figs produce formication of the palate and 
fauces, and that the dust of split peas has the effect, 
upon some persons, of hay fever. A very singular ex¬ 
ample related by him of the effect of touch, is that of 
a gentleman who could not endure the sensation pro¬ 
duced by the handling of a russet apple. We have 
been informed of a lady who immediately cries, invol¬ 
untarily, on the addition of any mineral acid to the 
water in which she is bathing her feet; and of a gentle¬ 
man in whom a severe attack of spasmodic asthma is 
immediately induced by the application of cold water 
to the instep. 

There is a very distressin complaint, popularly known 
as the hay-asthma, which affects a certain small propor¬ 
tion of the population. At the season of hay-making, 
these individuals are suddenly seized with what appears 
to be a very bad influenza — running at the nose, sneez¬ 
ing, coughing, and in some cases a most violent irrita¬ 
tion of all the mucous surfaces, the eyelids and the air 
passages, and the nose swelling in the most extraordi¬ 
nary manner. We have seen individuals quite blind, 
for a time, from this cause. Persons so affected can 


PHILOSOPHICAL. 


309 


only find relief by immediately retreating from the 
vicinity of the hay fields. The English Duke of Rich¬ 
mond, who is particularly susceptible to the influence 
of hay asthma, retreats every hay-making season to 
Brighton, to avoid his well-known enemy. Floating 
vegetable particles of the seed of the grass are the 
cause of this extraordinary affection. That these travel 
a long distance is clear, inasmuch as persons susceptible 
to their influence feel uneasy even within a mile or two 
of hay fields. 

These are only a, few of those peculiar traits which 
appertain to the physical system. But those which 
appertain to the human mind are more numerous and 
complicated still. The mind has its fevers, its fits of 
gout and dyspepsia. And if we suppose it to bear a 
similar relation to the body which the flower and the 
fruit bear to the tree, we can perceive how liable the 
mind may be to annoyances from innumerable influ¬ 
ences which could never be recognized by any tests 
known to chemistry. Love is not measured by a yard¬ 
stick ; intellectual taste cannot be weighed in the scales 
of the apothecary. And it is these peculiarities that 
carry us back to the primaries of our existence. Hence 
the term Idiopathy , from idios, peculiar, and pathos , 
passion or affection. Idiosyncrasy is used to signify the 
mixture of the elements, but is somewhat exclusive in 
its application, as if those who have no idiosyncrasies, 
or none to speak of, had no elements to be mixed. 
Hence, when we meet with one of that class of “ odd ” 
people, to whom Reichenbach has given the name of 
« sensitives,” the application of this term often carries 
the idea that they are indeed so peculiar in their sus¬ 
ceptibilities, that other people, not “sensitive,” have no 


310 


PATHETISM. 


idiosyncrasies at all. "Whereas, human nature is the 
same nature in all; it is one great whole of idiosyncra¬ 
sies, so that, in the general laws, what is true of one is 
true of all, and the same disease, mental or physical, 
which is suffered by one may be suffered by all, as we 
have one origin, one nature, and one destiny. 


LECTURES 


Revivals. 

Ideas, originating in the human mind, addressed in 
speech, written, acted, or spoken, to the human mind, 
constitute human “influence,” and by which all “reviv¬ 
als,” excitements, and mental epidemics, are produced. 
The character of each revival is shaped, of course, by 
the leading mind, or the Idea used as the means for 
bringing about the change. 

As with individuals, so with masses of people. A 
“revival ” may be spontaneous. The announcement of 
a certain idea may excite a train of results in the minds 
of the multitude, wdrich w^ere, perhaps, never distinctly 
designed by the speaker. Thus, as in the preaching of 
the French prophets, Wesley, and the Moravians, find¬ 
ing people “ impressed,” and carried into states of mind 
unlooked for, they readily inclined to the opinion that 
some supernatural agency must have induced the 
revival, and hence, the “ exercise of prayer,” in which 
the speaker asks for assistance from an unknown, invis¬ 
ible powder. Mental excitements produced in this man¬ 
ner easily become contagious, and run into epidemics. 
The masses, unacquainted with the laws of mind, have 
ever been prone to attribute the “influence” exerted 

( 311 ) 



312 


PATHETISM. 


over them by a certain class of speakers, to some super¬ 
natural power. And at other times, not less so, even 
when the preacher announces beforehand definitely the 
state of feeling which he proposes to induce, and when 
he shapes his discourses accordingly. But surely, when 
a speaker makes known his design of getting up a 
revival, we should expect him to use all appropriate 
means in his ideas, his speeches, actions, and tones, for 
bringing about this result. Nor do I perceive why we 
may not consider the whole process as human. Human 
ideas, human words, human measures, influence human 
minds, and thus induce revivals, which are human 
results. All classes believe in revivals, of some kind. 
The Methodist believes in a Methodist revival, the Bap¬ 
tist in a Baptist revival, the Orthodox in an Orthodox 
revival. The influence of a Popish priest is acceptable 
to the Papist, and so of the religious teachers of any 
other sect. They are each pleased to have their own 
numbers augmented through the “influence” exerted 
by those on whom they rely for this purpose. 

And thus we see, that 

“ The different sects, who all declare, 

Lo, Christ is here, and Christ is there,” 

while they differ so much among themselves, they do, 
nevertheless, each, unconsciously it may be, pay homage 
to Nature’s laws, in that they each employ more or less 
of them for producing that kind of revival upon which 
their perpetuity so manifestly depends. 

If, then, Wesley’s influence is called Wesleyanism, 
Calvin’s influence Calvinism, and Mesmer’s influence 
Mesmerism, I do not see why I may not, when speaking 
of the Philosophy by which all human beings influence 


LECTURES. 


313 


one another, call it Pathetism, and the results produced 
by speaking on this Idea, Pathematic or Human 
Revivals. 

It seems to me that the matters discussed in the 
preceding pages may now have prepared the reader to 
understand how it is that we are so apt to become sec¬ 
tarian, exclusive, bigoted, dogmatical, and censorious in 
our notions. Fascinated and “impressed” by any pe¬ 
culiar influences, we reject whatever offers to relieve us 
from the cords by which we have become spell-bound. 
In this condition we find those persons who are so 
happy in their notions that they do not wish for any 
change; they are sure in respect to matters which they 
take entirely for granted. They base their safety in 
thinking precisely on a given subject as they suppose 
Wesley, Calvin, or the Westminster divines did, or as 
they now imagine somebody else thought four thousand 
years ago. Such is the power which an Idea, true or 
false, when once adopted, acquires over the mind. The 
Philosophy of this Power it has been the object of my 
labors to explain. 

The following reports of a few of my lectures, deliv¬ 
ered in the principal cities, may be relied upon as accu¬ 
rate. Those of my last course in Boston (1849-50) 
continued for sixty-four consecutive nights, in the Ma¬ 
sonic Temple, Tremont Street, taken from the Boston 
Daily Mail, I have been informed were written by Mr. 
William B. English, a popular writer, and an actor well 
known throughout the country; a gentleman with 
whom, however, I never had any personal acquaintance 
whatever. And now, availing myself of his labors as I 
do, it may not be out of place, perhaps, for me to make 
here an expression of my thanks for the fidelity with 
27 


314 


PATHETISM. 


which lie has drawn my picture in these condensed 
reports. 

From these and other similar accounts that follow, 
the reader will gain some conception as to the revivals 
that followed my public labors, and from which it must 
be apparent, I think, how aptly Pathetism unfolds the 
mysteries heretofore involved in all revivals, all panics, 
and mental epidemics, by whatever names they may 
have been known in preceding ages of the world. 

Wonders of Pathetism. 

Mr. Sunderland’s experimental lectures upon the wonders of 
mental science are enlisting the attention of the public; and 
thousands who have only known effects, without knowing or 
inquiring into causes, have manifested a deep and abiding in 
terest, to become acquainted with his philosophy of the mind. 
We attended one of these interesting lectures on Saturday 
evening, at the Masonic Temple, which was thronged almost to 
overflowing, and among the auditors were many of our most 
intelligent citizens, who, if sceptical as to the published results 
that have followed the communion of mind with mind, were 
inclined to listen with attention, and with hearts open to receive 
truth and to acknowledge it. We regret that our present limits 
will only admit us to indicate the theory upon which the lecturer 
founds his science of Pathetism, a subject that he has bestowed 
years of study upon, and which can only be learned by careful 
investigation. 

There are two worlds to which the lecturer appeals — to the 
external and the internal; his first appeal is to the external ear, 
that he may reach and have power over the mind of his subject, 
and he premised it by saying that he should take up no more 
time than was necessary for the operation of his mind over that 
of the auditors. Before proceeding to perform those experi¬ 
ments necessary to prove his theory, he very fully directed the 
attention of the audience to the foundation stone of the doctrine. 
To give an idea of mental science, the lecturer exhibited two 
diagrams of circles, to represent the head ; within each, another 
circle represents the brain. Within one of these, the inner plate 
was more or less depressed or raised, according as the faculties 
predominated, each angle of the plate causing a corresponding 
depression upon the inner part of the surrounding belt, which we 


LECTURES. 


315 


supposed was intended to represent the interior plate of the skull. 
Within the other circle, the plate was completely round; he then 
showed the reverse side of these diagrams. The first, in which 
the inner plate was excessively angular, represented the head of 
an idiot, a person who, the lecturer said, actually lived; the other 
represented the head of Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most pro¬ 
found philosophers of the age. All mental perfections were 
made apparent by the circle; the world is a circle, the body a 
circle, the head, the veins, the sinews, all were made as a circle; 
and in fact, all the great works of Nature were in circles, and the 
great object of human wisdom should be to diverge the mind and 
body from the angular to the circle, for the approach to that form 
was the sure approximation to human perfection. 

The lecturer spoke at considerable length upon this part of the 
subject, contrasting the effects of these angles of the brain upon 
the character of man, producing the different degrees of excite¬ 
ment, and the various operations of the animal over the intellec¬ 
tual character of the being, and when suffered to have full sway, 
completely destroying every vestige of mental beauty. It is 
education that fills up these deformed angles with the moral 
attributes, and exerts an influence in producing an harmonious 
circle; and these, he remarked, are the practical purposes and 
the elements of Pathetism, which has to do w'ith the perfection 
of the human character, and the highest influences of the mind. 

We now began to witness some of the mental influences; a 
young and beautiful lady arose from amidst the audience, with 
eyes closed and arms extended, and slowly approached the 
speaker, w'ho took her by the hand, and directed her to a seat. 
He remarked that he could control persons as well with eyes 
open as shut, only that in the former state, they might be dis¬ 
turbed by external effects, and thereby affect his influence. As 
his experiments were the sympathy or action of mind with mind, 
he cautioned the auditors against annoying any one who might 
seem to be under his influence, by any conversation or sugges¬ 
tions, for fear of arresting their attention, and thereby disturb, 
and perhaps interrupt the experiments. The lecturer again fixed 
his attention steadily upon the audience, and after the lapse of a 
few minutes, questioned the young lady on the platform. 

“ Can you see any one endeavoring to respond to me ? ” 

Ans. “ I do.” 

Quest. “ What more is required ? ” 

Ans. “ They want a little more light.” 

Mr. Sunderland. “ They shall certainly have it; now' you call 
them ; speak to them.” 

The young lady arose, stretched forth her arms, and several 
others among the audience began to respond to her mental 


316 


PATHETISM. 


imitation by arising, and slowly and indifferently approaching, the 
platform in a state of trance. Two males and two females had 
now reached the platform, and soon were seated upon a sofa. 
The first young lady manipulated them with her own hands, and 
caused the different emotions of the subject discussed by the lec¬ 
turer, and these were folknved by a beautiful song from the young 
lady, the others also lending their voices melodiously to the strain. 
The lecturer remarked at the close of these interesting phenom¬ 
ena, that he had entranced upwards of fifteen thousand persons, 
all having been thrown into this state of abstraction from the 
world. It was a state of existence shadowing on death; the 
external senses were shut; the spirit was active, and communing 
with spirits in the mental world. Formerly he had had fears of 
death; now he had no more dread of dying than he had of lying 
on his pillow at night. There were many among his hearers, no 
doubt, who were in some way afflicted; who suffered from fits 
and insanity; who were addicted to the use of tobacco, opium, 
and intoxicating liquors; they called upon him to help them. 
The response he should mentally make would be to bless them 
and to do them good. He alluded to the state of mind neces¬ 
sary to produce this result, and remarked that he threw away all 
worldly feeling, that he was not at all influenced by passion — he 
hated no one, found fault with no one, that he entertained for¬ 
giveness for the past, gratitude for the present, and hope for the 
future. 

The lecturer proceeded, and one by one of his audience re¬ 
sponded, till in the course of fifteen minutes there were upon the 
platform four ladies and four gentlemen, three of whom had 
never been there before. Among this number, was a young man 
who followed the lecturer’s mental invitations from the farther 
end of the hall to the platform; his countenance, albeit very 
sedate in the passive state, when wrought upon by the influence 
of mind, was replete with good humor, and his descriptions and 
replies in the state of trance gave food for continual mirth to the 
audience. His replies were extremely piquant and witty, and 
his dry humor, nicely sprinkled with the live Yankee sayings and 
doings, which, by the way, were far better than any we have 
heard among the best Yankee comedians on the stage, created 
roars of laughter. 

To further demonstrate the truth as to the reality of this state 
of existence, the lecturer tried a variety of experiments upon the 
ladies and gentlemen who were seated in a line upon the platform. 

“ What occupies your thoughts ? ” he asked. 

“ It is very warm,” replied one of the young ladies, who placed 
her hand upon the floor, and suddenly drew it back again as 
though it were a live coal. “ What is the philosophy of this ? ” 


LECTURES. 


317 


she asked, still apparently writhing under the effects of heat. 
“ It is getting hotter and hotter.” 

“ Yes, hotter and more of it,” continued the humorous gentle¬ 
man, wiggling backward and forward. 

“ Yes,” replied the young lady, getting upon the round of her 
chair, and seating herself upon the back of it, “ yes, but you no 
need to complain ; you’ve got on thick, cow-hide boots, and we 
ladies have only thin slippers to protect our delicate feet from 
the coals.” 

“ O dear! O crackee! he’s making beefsteak of my toes,” said 
the funny man, throwing his legs about like a weathercock. “ O 
dear, O dear! I hope that hot place we read on ain’t any hotter 
than this; if it is, I pity the fellers.” 

“Well, we’ve got to be tried by fire, you know,” replied an¬ 
other. 

“ O salamanders! I’ve had my trial, and now hadn’t you better 
reduce the heat?” inquired the funny man, imploringly. 

Mr. Sunderland. “ Yes, it’s cool now.” 

Funny Man. “Well, I guess I’m pretty well cooked j thor¬ 
oughly baked; done brown.” 

Lady sitting in chair , hack . “ Is it cool ? ” 

Funny Man. “ Yes, as cool as soda.” 

Another Subject. “ Come, get down; you don’t know how 
cool it is.” 

Lady. “ No, you don’t; remember I got burned once, and a 
burned child dreads the fire, you know.” 

Funny Man. “ Well, I begin to feel a little icy like.” 

Lady. “ If this was a wooden floor, wouldn’t it have been in 
a blaze ? ” 

Funny Man. “Yes, and we’d all been goners.” 

Lady. “ It’s nothing at all.” 

Funny Man. “ Nothing! Why, I thought I’d have to take a 
reef in both of my legs.” 

The lecturer, after these and many other satisfactory experi¬ 
ments, took his subjects mentally upon the summit of a hill. 
They described the scenes of a battle very vividly, and exhibited 
the pleasurable imagination, the effects of hope, joy, and fear, with 
great power, continuing the colloquy, in which all the subjects 
took part. In the course of these experiments they sang, “ There 
is a good time coming,” very beautifully. The phenomena man¬ 
ifested in this happy state were extremely interesting and won¬ 
derful. In all his demonstrations of his theory of the mind he 
called for the strictest scrutiny, and manifested a desire to 
conduct every point in an open and fearless manner. — Boston 
Daily Mail , November 13, 1849. 

27 * 


318 


PATHETISM. 


Mysteries of Human Nature. 

We attended another lecture by LaRoy Sunderland, at the 
Masonic Temple, on Tuesday evening. The body of the house 
was crowded. The presence of so many beautiful women, and 
the extraordinary experiments of the lecturer, rendered the scene 
truly one of fascination and enchantment. Mr. Sunderland very 
clearly explained his theory of mind, and his mode of demon¬ 
strating its truthfulness, by bringing forth the results which had 
been witnessed by so many'thousands of people in this city. He 
considered very fully the peculiar state of mind necessary to pro¬ 
duce happiness, in what happiness consists. There were three 
states of mind indicated by the three colors in his circle, they 
being the primitive colors, red, yellow, and blue; the former 
indicating the intellectual, the second the social, and the third the 
emotional. These were correspondents of the three elements of 
the mind; the harmonious developments of these conditions 
constituted happiness. Pathetism is continually productive of 
goodness; it exercised its influence over the mind warped by 
ignorance; it exercised an active influence on those portions of 
the brain that were feeble, and its continued power was felt in 
minds angular till they were developed in perfect and harmonious 
circles. 

Mr. Sunderland remarked, that as relates to the subject of 
Pathetism, there were many sceptics, and many indulged the 
belief that witchcraft and sorcery had more to do with it than any 
philosophy of the mind. Upon the subject of belief, Mr. Sun¬ 
derland alluded to those who read and believed in certain reli¬ 
gious dogmas, upon -which different people were divided in 
opinion. If such peculiar dogmas were believed, asked Mr. 
Sunderland, why could not such believe that he could cause the 
results that are seen nightly in this hall, through a corresponding 
state of mind ? Scarcely a night that he has lectured, but thirty, 
forty, or fifty people had been fascinated by him; they had been 
placed in that condition of mind in which there was a sympathy 
with each other; and was not this conclusive proof that there is 
a philosophy for making the human mind, in all cases, what it 
ought to be ? 

The power that he held over the mind he had repeatedly de¬ 
monstrated ; the influence that is felt by one from another had 
been nightly witnessed; he had caused them to dance, to sing, to 
pray, to be merry, and sad. But the purpose of Pathetism was 
to do good to all. He could break up the habit of stammering, 
and destroy the appetite for tobacco, opium, and intoxicating 


LECTURES. 


319 


liquors, and cure difficulties in the power of speech; he had 
restored many from hopeless despair and insanity, and completely 
annihilated from the mind a tendency to crime. He related an 
instance where he had entranced an old sailor, who was a most 
profane swearer; in that state, he told him if he ever swore 
again he would surely choke, and through his influence the vice 
of swearing was broken off. 

In looking about the room, he saw at least fifty that he could 
entrance, but he could not do so without consuming most of the 
evening, as new subjects were under the influence often excited 
in the organ of combativeness, and would rebel against him. He 
did not deem it expedient to waste this time when there were 
others in a suitable condition of mind to be entranced, and his 
purpose was to benefit the greatest number, and to gratify and 
amuse all. 

The effects of fascination were now exhibited among the audi¬ 
ence in various forms. There were a great number in a state of 
trance; one young lady arose, and with arms folded, walked 
slowly towards the platform. Mr. Sunderland now moved 
among the audience, and in about ten minutes, a man seized him 
about the body, and exhibited the ecstatic feeling. Mr. Sunder¬ 
land took him to the platform and gave him a seat. “ This man,” 
remarked Mr. Sunderland, “ is an invalid; he has been under my 
influence for some time; ” and fearing that he might get away 
from his influence, he had put his hands upon him ; it was sympathy 
that caused the subject to cling to him; he wanted help. The 
young lady w r ho had been sitting upon the platform now jumped 
upon the floor, when a young man arose, with his eyes closed and 
arms extended, took her hand, and both gained the platform. 
Another lady in the trance stepped upon the platform, and took 
a seat in front of a piano-forte. Mr. Sunderland caused her to 
play upon the instrument, during which time eight or ten others, 
male and female, in the trance, took seats upon the platform. 

Mr. Sunderland’s first important experiment was to put the 
whole of the entranced into a state of ecstasy; here the sublime 
manifestations of the subjects were exceedingly beautiful. The 
different mental appreciations of this state by the subjects were 
curious, and afforded great amusement. In this excited sphere, 
the limbs were cataleptic, the system rigid like death. 

“ Shall we stay here ? ” asked a young lady, with great earnest¬ 
ness. “ I hope so, we had so much trouble in getting here, over 
that rough road,” replied a gentleman. “ O, do let us stay,” 
implored the lady. After the conversation, Mr. Sunderland took 
them from this place, and caused one of the ladies to sing a 
beautiful song, the others joining in chorus. It was a delightful 


320 


PATHETISil. 


treat, and loudly applauded. “ Now, listen,” said Mr. Sunder¬ 
land ; and he caused a violent thunder storm, the effect of which 
upon the entranced was thrilling. “ Now it begins to rain, and 
O, what terrific thunder,” fearfully exclaimed a lady. “ What 
shall we do ? ” asked another. “ You must do the best you can,” 
replied another. “ I wish I’d brought my umbrella,” said one, 
“it is a second edition of the flood. Where’s the ark?” Mr. 
Sunderland caused them to lift up the stools and chairs over 
their heads in the delusion, fancying them to be umbrellas. The 
effect was quite humorous. The next experiment was to cause 
the subjects to sing the “ Queen of May,” which was sung with 
much power and sweetness. The next experiment was in taste, 
first by imagining some tobacco in his own mouth, and causing 
the extremely nauseating effects of it upon his subjects; and 
here the conversation was very laughable, and kept the audience 
in a roar all the while it was going on. An agreeable taste was 
soon found to counteract the unpleasant effects of tobacco. 

After numerous other experiments, Mr. Sunderland caused 
them to sing, and they chanted the beautiful song of “ A Life on 
my native Soil,” in a manner that won the lovo of every one 
present. The lecture and demonstrations having been prolonged 
to half past nine, Mr. Sunderland asked every one w r ho had been 
impressed during his lecture to stand up, when all those on the 
platform, as well as about forty among the audience, stood up, 
and in five minutes he took the spell off* of every one, at one 
time. Miraculous as these things seem, they are nevertheless 
true, and of importance to every one. — Boston Daily Mail, 
November 16, 1849. 

The Trance. 

One of the largest audiences that ever assembled at the 
Tremont Temple were present at an early hour on Wednesday 
evening, to hear Mr. Sunderland’s explanations of mental won¬ 
ders, and to witness the interesting experiments he performs 
upon those he fascinates, while in the state of trance. He gave 
a brief lecture upon the laws governing Pathetism. Before pro¬ 
ceeding with his demonstrations, he wished the audience to 
observe the rules that he had always laid dowm with regard to 
quietness, begging them to keep in mind the little magnet, how 
nice and with what perfection it performs its wonderful labors 
when undisturbed, w’hile the smallest touch will turn it from its 
course. He also urged that every one should maintain order for 
the sake of the results, which he knew would be gratifying to all. 
The natural effects resulting from the sympathy of mind were far 


LECTURES, 


321 


easier obtained, and much more satisfactory, than any thing that 
art could possibly accomplish. And he could conceive of noth¬ 
ing more interesting or beautiful than the development of this 
philosophy. One mind is made a spiritual magnet, and acts 
upon another, which responds in obedience to the spirit of the 
first, and these spiritual results were analogous to those of the 
magnet. He had received a number of requests, handed to him 
this evening, as experiments to perform upon those pathetized, 
and he hoped to gratify every one by a ready compliance with 
their wishes. 

After a lapse of about fifteen minutes, six ladies and five gen¬ 
tlemen were entranced upon the platform. Mr. Sunderland now- 
called upon all attentively to follow him, when the subjects soon 
evinced great dislike to the road, and severally exclaimed that at 
every step they took a wasp, or something sharper, kept stinging 
them. Then they complained of having been plunged into a 
dense bramble, and such a scampering to get aw-ay and avoid the 
stinger’s nettle was quite laughable. Presently they all seized 
chairs, and wielded them about as a farmer would a scythe in 
mowing grass. They, in fact, imagined the chairs scythes, and 
that they w r ere cutting out a path among the brakes. The sub¬ 
jects next imagined that they had a cat following them, and the 
colloquy attending this delusion was also humorous. In the third 
part, Mr. Sunderland gratified the audience by causing three of 
the young ladies to sing a pretty air, called “ Beautiful Violets,” 
which was very sweetly sung. 

He next gratified their sight, in compliance with another re¬ 
quest, which was to carry them mentally to a certain scene. The 
entranced described a beautiful aviary of birds, and were truly 
enraptured with the beauty of their plumage, and the sweetness 
of their notes. “ O, how delightful,” exclaimed one. “ Let’s set 
a snare to catch some of them,” said another. “ Beautiful! 
delicious ! superb ! ” were frequent exclamations. “ What is this 
one perched on my finger ? ” asked Mr. Sunderland. 

“ That is a bird of Paradise,” answ-ered the humorous man. 
“ What long feathers — they make fine birds. How beautiful 
they sing; wish I had an interpreter to tell what it’s all about,” 
he continued, laughing. 

“ The more I look the more I want to,” said a pretty young 
lady. 

“ Don’t scare ’em,” said the funny man, with anxiety. 

At last, one of the entranced made a tremendous leap from 
the platform, and as if catching one of the birds, w'hich he care¬ 
fully brought and exhibited to the delight of the rest, and so 
ended this experiment. 


322 


PATHKTISM. 


He next took them to a distant part of the country. They 
described a southern planter, slaves at labor, and slaves being 
sold at auction. The scene was quite repulsive to them, and 
they expressed a desire to leave it. One of the subjects, in de¬ 
scribing a mother and child about being sold, called out to them 
to run away. 

“There’s old Uncle Ned,” said the funny man, with great glee, 
seeing an old nigger at work. 

In this scene, the ladies sang, “ Shine on, Northern Star,” a 
delightful song, and beautifully sung. 

At the conclusion of the song, a young lady exhorted all her 
companions to remember the poor slave, and very pathetically 
described the separation of husband and wife, the brother and 
sister, father and son, the mother and daughter, and sold like 
beasts into slavery, and called upon all fathers, mothers, brothers, 
and sisters, and all Christians, to remember the slave, who had 
the same warm feelings for their kindred as we have for ours. 

“ Never shall I forget that scene,” said the lady. 

Here the mental scene was again changed, and the subjects 
manifesting a desire to eat, Mr. Sunderland carried them to a 
refectory, and this gave rise to a scene of great humor, all calling 
for different articles on the bill of fare, and falling to with great 
gusto. 

They next passed over the country in the cars, describing the 
peculiarities of travel, the speed, &c., and arrived at Niagara 
Falls, described the Falls, Horse-shoe and Table Rock, the cur¬ 
rent, the rainbow, and all the wonders at the scene. They men¬ 
tally followed a vessel through the eddying current, describing 
each fearful step till its doom was sealed in the lashing and roar¬ 
ing gulf. This gave him scope for the display of the passion of 
fear and grief. Other experiments equally w'onderful were ex¬ 
hibited, and after taking the spell off, Mr. Sunderland said he 
should in that state cause them to lose their identity, not to know 
themselves, or one another, and in fact to imagine the most sin¬ 
gular things. This he exhibited fully in strange delusions of the 
mind, and showing the wonderful control he has over those under 
his mental influence. — Boston Daily Mail , November 23, 1849. 

The Land of Dreams. 

During the three weeks that Mr. Sunderland has lectured in 
Boston, he has secured a very large and highly respectable class 
of converts, and daily gives gratuitous instruction to ladies and 
gentlemen in the science of Pathetism. Those who have at¬ 
tended his course of lectures speak well of them, and appear 


LECTURES. 


323 


satisfied that his theory of mental wonders has been fully estab¬ 
lished in practice. To a casual auditor, he remarked that there 
is much that might appear a mystery and not satisfactory, but 
the subject, like every other, requires careful observation, dili¬ 
gent research, and close attention to the rules which he lays 
down. A gentleman who sat near us last evening remarked, 
while several of the audience, entranced, were wending their way 
to the platform, that if the lecturer could fascinate him, he would 
then become a believer, and not without. This is great injustice, 
and very unfair; as well might a man who had never been to 
London or China doubt the existence of such countries, because 
the Thames was never apparent to his eye, or he had never seen 
the great wall of China. The advocate of truth places reliance 
in the works of the historian, and in the observations and expe¬ 
rience of the stars, and so the lover of science gives credence to 
truth, come in what form and from what source it may. Mr. 
Sunderland says that he has fascinated thousands; hundreds in 
Boston, and the most respectable people nightly are witness to 
the truth of his statements. 

To bring about these extraordinary phenomena, he requires 
certain conditions of mind, which he explains in his lecture. He 
remarked that any one could be entranced, but that a new sub¬ 
ject, not in the proper condition, would require a much longer 
time, and some perhaps a whole evening, before he would be 
fully pathetized: this would be tedious to the audience, and not 
give satisfaction to the hundreds of believers who came to wit¬ 
ness mental experiments upon those whose minds are in a suit¬ 
able frame. The experiments last evening were truly beautiful, 
and gained much deserved approbation. Those in clairvoyance 
were also delightful, and sufficiently varied to suit all tastes, 
being mirthful and musical, and many eliciting the sublime won¬ 
ders arising from the highly-excited state of the intellectual fac¬ 
ulties. The “ funny man’s ” organs of mirth kept the audience in 
a roar. And the young lady, said Mr. Sunderland, is an inde¬ 
pendent clairvoyant; that is, her mind is in a sensitive state, and 
under that easy control as to be immediately affected by the will. 
The songs by the other ladies were enchanting, well suggested, 
and executed with fine power and skill. — Boston Daily Mail , 
November 28, 1849. 

Wonderful Experiments. 

Mr. Sunderland, who is called by some a wizard, on account 
of the marvellous experiments he performs by the aid of his pa¬ 
tients and others in a state of trance, took his audience by storm 




PATHETISM. 


on Saturday evening. At the usual hour of commencing his 
lectures, Mr. Sunderland appeared, and without any remarks, 
proceeded to walk among his audience. One by one fell into a 
state of trance, until the number amounted to six ladies and six 
gentlemen. They were soon seated in a line upon the stage, 
directly facing the audience. Mr. Sunderland stands upon one 
of the seats, thirty or forty feet from them. He received a num¬ 
ber of written requests, mentioning the experiments that they 
desire to have tried. The first was in taste. All the patients 
moved their lips, and by their actions as well as speech, commu¬ 
nicated to the audience that what they tasted was exceedingly 
nauseating, and finally said that it was lamp oil. They all called 
finally for water, and it was a long time before they could cleanse 
their palates from the obnoxious fluid. 

They next described a house in sad disorder* every thing being 
out of place. This scene gave the funny man an excellent scope 
for action, and in sending Jack to draw cider, and Sal to milk 
the cows, and Jerusha to mend the stockings and wash the 
clothes, he was particularly humorous. 

Many other scenes were described, among which was a ship¬ 
wreck at sea. The starting, sea-sickness, storm at sea, wreck, 
the surge, the rocks, were all jnost forcibly given, and the ex¬ 
pression and action of the patients completely set at rest, under 
any suggestion, that such a state could be feigned. — Boston 
Daily Mail, December' 5, 1849. 

Ecstasy. 

The large and intelligent audiences who now attend Mr. Sun¬ 
derland’s lectures afford convincing proofs that the subject is 
considered one of interest and importance. He made some 
excellent remarks on Thursday evening; he believed scepticism 
to be honorable to human nature, and he did not blame people 
for doubting; but it was also honorable to investigate, and it was 
his wish to convince by the best evidence which truth could pro¬ 
duce. He spoke of the qualities of mind and matter, and their 
W’onderful attributes. The mental phenomena were often of 
such a remarkable character as to be classed among the miracles 
of the day, and the unthinking, not understanding or caring to 
investigate, too often treat the matter with levity; but if they 
could not find any rule by which such phenomena are governed, 
they could not point out any law in nature which they violate. 

In relation to one of the results, he remarked that about thirty 
years ago, in the course of a sermon he preached at a revival 
meeting, he noticed some thirty or forty of the audience in that 


LECTURES. 


325 


peculiar state known as a trance, their muscles and limbs rigid 
and cold, and the pupils of the eyes set. This was accounted for 
as the influence of the Spirit of God. In 1745, in the days of 
Whitefield, similar results were noticed during that eminent 
divine’s-discourses. The same phenomena had been observed at 
other revival meetings, and cases are recorded where the limbs 
had been in such a state of catalepsy as to render the individual 
for some time unable to move. 

This singular state, observed the lecturer, could now be ac¬ 
counted for; and he had already shown, and should demonstrate 
again, that the mind and the muscular powers, the external 
senses, were so much under his control that the subject could not 
possibly be conscious of pain. 

Mr. Sunderland also alluded to dreams, and explained the phi¬ 
losophy of them, and stated several curious results from that 
state, one of which was truly astonishing. A young mechanic, 
in a dream, invented a very useful ahd valuable piece of mech¬ 
anism, and his dream made so deep an impression on his mind, 
that when awake he wrote the whole plan, and went to work; 
for the result of his labors, he received a patent from Washing¬ 
ton. This person is a native of Boston, and the story is no 
fiction. 

Such things might be doubted, he said, but it was the duty of 
every one to investigate; one of the principles of philosophy 
was to trace results to their causes, rather than go back to the 
dark days of the last century, and attribute every thing remark¬ 
able to witchcraft. There were certain laws, said Mr. Sunder¬ 
land, existing in the nervous system, by which we can account 
for the trance, fascination, somnambulism, &c., which he should 
in these lectures, he hoped, make evident to the minds of his 
audience. 

Mr. Sunderland now proceeded, and in fifteen or twenty min¬ 
utes, some thirty or forty were more or less affected, and fifteen 
took seats on the platform, several of whom had never been im¬ 
pressed before. 

The subjects having been placed in an agreeable condition of 
mind, Mr. Sunderland said he would proceed to comply with 
several requests that had been handed to him. The first scene 
presented by the patients was one of peace and joy — they de¬ 
scribed a scene where nothing but goodness reigned. It was the 
region of bliss, and here they begged to be allowed to remain. 
They were in a state of perfect harmony, contented with their 
lot, and happy to remain. The lecturer called the attention of 
the audience to the serene expression which the faces of all the 
patients bore, the agreement in the position of their heads, which 

28 


326 


PATHETISM. 


showed an exercise of those faculties of veneration that aspired 
to the abode of paradise. The next feeling they manifested was 
that of ecstasy, and in this was exhibited that cataleptic state 
of the limbs which is often witnessed in persons under great reli¬ 
gious excitement. 

Taking them from this state, Mr. Sunderland proceeded to 
perform the next wish, and here was a complete change in every 
patient. One of the ladies suddenly arose, and remarked that 
she heard martial music, and the concord of inspiring sounds 
lent animation to every heart. They were transported mentally 
to a field of battle; they heard the tramping of horses, and 
marched in the crowded ranks to the battle ground. Then the 
smoke, and the loud reports of cannon startled them, and anon 
they saw the horrid sight of the wounded, the dying, and the 
dead. Being asked the name of this battle, the funny man ex¬ 
claimed that it was the battle of Buena Vista, and here he saw 
Lincoln, Old Zach, and “Whitey.” From this fearful scene 
they wished to fly, and in good time Mr. Sunderland removed 
them from it. 

The next scene was replete with excitement, novelty, and irre¬ 
sistible humor. One of the ladies saw a very large object, which 
she soon described as a balloon, nearly inflated. Every thing 
being in readiness, they agreed to leave terra Jirma, and try the 
region of the clouds. Collecting close to one another, they 
stepped in, the funny man clinging to a companion who, he said, 
he should “ stick to like a dog to a root.” In due time, the cords 
were cut, and away they went in the air, Mr. Sunderland cau¬ 
tioning them not to go too near the side, for fear of falling out. 
In the upper regions, the funny man complained of cold, and said 
Boston “ looked as small as the little end of nothing whittled down 
to a pint; ” he hoped the balloon wouldn’t collapse, as he didn’t 
want to get “ busted ” so soon. On being asked by a companion 
how high he thought they were, he replied, “ that it was nearer 
Heaven, he thought, than they’d all get again.” In due time the 
gas was let out, and the balloon descended, falling into the water, 
and here a scene was presented which beggars description. The 
patients were extremely terrified; and one of the ladies, who had 
been impressed for the first time, seized hold of another lady, 
and exclaimed, “ Save her! save her ! ” She was the very pic¬ 
ture of grief, and in a state that could not possibly be feigned. 
They were at last got on dry land; the funny man said that he 
had “ shed briny tears,” and being asked by some one where 
they were, replied that it was Hull, which caused shouts of laugh¬ 
ter. Mr. Sunderland brought them once more home, and let 
them rest. — Boston Daily Mail , December 8, 1849. 


LECTURES. 


827 


Mental Science. 

The Masonic Temple has scarcely ever exhibited more beauty 
and fashion, intelligence and inquiry, than it has during Mr. Sun¬ 
derland’s lectures on Pathetism, and full as they have been, the 
cry is, Still they come. There is, in his discourses and experi¬ 
ments, enough to satisfy the mind, please the eye, and charm 
the ear. To a casual observer, we confess there is much in what 
is exhibited to awaken scepticism, although investigation is cer¬ 
tain to overthrow it. Some sceptics will allow that the phenom¬ 
ena which they witness is real, and they attribute it to a super¬ 
natural agency, that being the favorite loophole, from which a 
want of inquiry will easily escape. The nature of the human 
mind, says Mr. Sunderland, is such, that when uninformed, it has 
always been disposed to attribute phenomena that were new and 
strange to supernatural agency. But we shall see that in strict 
philosophy, one mental result is just as supernatural or extraor¬ 
dinary as another ; the only difference between what we denomi¬ 
nate common or extraordinary phenomena, is, with the former 
we are more familiar, and at the same time the latter class may 
be just as often in their occurrence; but because it may not have 
come in our way to notice them, they seem to us more mysteri¬ 
ous, and have to be attributed to supernatural power. 

Human nature is a system of laws; and so of the mind, when 
we come to dissect it, as it were, and examine its phenomena in 
the light of its own inherent faculty of wisdom, perfectly devel¬ 
oped, we shall find what those laws are, and how beautifully they 
all harmonize with every other law in nature and the constitution 
of things. This degree of knowledge is the perfection of the 
human mind, and it is for the want of it that men fear investiga¬ 
tion. In speaking of the promulgation of new mental results, 
Mr. Sunderland goes on to say that every human being capable 
of putting forth mental manifestations, may be said by another 
to be fanatical, or in some way or other deluded. We are, says 
he, in one way, believers or sceptics; for what one believes the 
other disbelieves, so that it would be scarcely possible to describe 
or conceive of any fact, idea, emotion, volition, or action, real or 
imaginary, which has not been, or is not now, believed and 
doubted "by different minds, the world over; and hence a good 
maxim for all would be, in non-essentials, liberty; in essentials, 
free inquiry; and in all things, charity. 

There were from thirty to forty individuals entranced by him 
every night, and some fifteen or twenty experimented upon, to 
give pleasure and satisfaction to the audience. If collusion was 


328 


PATHETISM. 


the plan adopted, any person in the audience could do exactly 
what he did; but he would ask in reason if such an idea could 
be for a moment credited — that thousands of people, of both 
sexes, the most intelligent in Boston, could be so deceived. He 
would defy any one to do it, and if they wished to try, he would, 
on his own expense, furnish them with the hall, and if they 
could arrive at any thing that would give satisfaction and deceive 
an audience, he would be willing to forfeit every farthing he was 
worth in the world. Again, there were some twelve or fifteen 
persons in a state of trance on the platform; a few' were ac¬ 
quainted with each other, but the most were total strangers. 
Their ages were from twelve up to forty, and nearly all were pro¬ 
fessors of religion, and occupied a most respectable standing in 
society. 

He w'ould ask the audience if they could believe such persons 
would deliberately come there night after night, and practise 
deception before respectable audiences, or would it be possible 
that, audiences could be thus deceived ? His experiments per¬ 
formed last evening were all suggested by strangers in the audi¬ 
ence, who publicly declared that they came out of curiosity, were 
determined to be satisfied, and were convinced that, although 
they w’ere unable to explain the philosophy, every experiment 
was the result of some mental laws w r hich they could not yet 
comprehend .—Boston Daily Mail , December 12, 1849. 

The Spirit World. 

Another very large audience assembled at the Masonic Temple 
last evening. Mr. Sunderland’s remarks were listened to with 
much attention and interest, and his experiments were all satis¬ 
factory, and, we should think, would fully convince even the 
sceptic. The eye could see, the ear listen, and the mind compre¬ 
hend, and reason would decide in favor of the truth. There 
were thirteen patients on the stage, in different degrees of trance. 
I have, said Mr. Sunderland, when communing mentally with 
these patients, one by one, asked them in my mind to come to 
me, and they have all responded to my wishes. I will now con¬ 
nect them mentally together, that I may make a mental transfer 
to all, at the same time. 

He now proceeded to perform the first written request handed 
in. A few minutes passed, and the patients responded in a song, 
the precise one that had been called for. The next experiment 
was still more wonderful. A gentleman handed Mr. Sunderland 
a small piece of written paper. Immediately Mr. Sunderland, 
who stood several yards distant from those on the stage, askecl 


LECTURES. 


329 


what the gentleman desired. “ He wishes us to sing,” replied 
one, “ but such an old tune.” “ As old as the hills,” continued 
the funny man. “Well, we’ll gratify him,” remarked the first 
young lady, and the patients sang “ Old Hundred.” 

After they had finished, Mr. Sunderland said he had been 
requested to ask the gentleman if the response just made was 
correct. William Knapp, Esq., assistant clerk of the Police 
Court, who was the gentleman who had made the request, arose 
and remarked that he had just asked Mr. Sunderland to cause 
his patients to sing“ Old Hundred,” and that justice to Mr. Sun¬ 
derland prompted him to state that the experiment was fairly 
and satisfactorily performed. 

In the course of the next experiment, Mr. Sunderland threw 
his patients into a state of grief, and conjuring up in memory the 
dying scenes of a beloved child, led all his subjects to sympathize 
with his grief-fraught feelings, which they did keenly, shedding 
tears of sorrow as they witnessed the remains of the child being 
borne to their final resting-place. 

The next experiment was a very vivid and perfect impression 
of a snow storm, performed at the request of a lady. The sub¬ 
jects saw a heavy fall of snow, appeared very cold, at times 
shook the heavy flakes from their dresses, and kept their blood in 
circulation by pelting each other with snowballs. 

A large number of other experiments were performed, from 
“ grave to gay,” and the audience were interested and amused till 
half past nine o’clock, when the spell was taken off, and the im¬ 
mense audience retired, every way gratified with the evening’s 
entertainment. — Boston Daily Mail , December 14, 1849. 

Strange Phenomena. 

There are a great many things about which we have no theory 
or opinion. We are puzzled, unable to classify, or reduce to 
system. Some of these things we saw last night, at Mr. Sun¬ 
derland’s lecture. The lecturer we have known rather intimately 
for some twelve years, and have regarded him as not only a fear¬ 
less, but an honest man; one who would sacrifice any amount of 
pecuniary advantage to his convictions of duty; as, in short, any 
thing but a mercenary man. But let that go for nothing. We 
will simply say what we saw under his administration last 
evening. 

The Tremont Temple was well filled, and when we entered, 
Mr. Sunderland was proceeding with his lecture, standing upon 
a broad platform, on which were many chairs, one of which was 
occupied by a young lady, sitting bolt upright, with closed eyes. 

28 * 


330 


PATHETISM. 


Mr. Sunderland is a dark-complexioned, very erect, and self- 
determined man, with a head rather larger, and body rather 
smaller,. than the ordinary size. As he proceeded, presently 
another young lady came upon the platform with her eyes closed ; 
then a third, a woman of large size, and so on, till seven or eight 
were on the platform. Others were noticed in different parts of 
the audience, with their eyes closed, and Mr. Sunderland visited 
them, putting his hands upon their heads in a soothing manner. 
While he was off the platform, a young man, with his eyes closed, 
ran like a deer the whole length of the north aisle, and took a 
position upon the platform. Mr. Sunderland led up another of 
the same sex. All had their eyes closed. It was stated that all 
those upon the platform had been in a similar condition before. 
Of the dozen or so in the audience who appeared to be entranced, 
it w r as stated that a number had never been so affected before. 

Before the whole company of sleepers had arrived on the plat¬ 
form, the large woman, who had stood stock still, with her back 
to the audience, for many minutes, seemed disturbed. She took 
a seat, and called for Mr. Sunderland. After whispering with 
her, he informed the audience that she told him there was a man 
in the house who had been guilty of a horrible crime. She 
afterwards rose and told the audience, in a distinct voice, that it 
was in South Carolina, nine years ago the 10th of September, 
that a man named Daniel Clark disappeared, and was never seen 
afterwards. The murderer was in the house. This created 
some sensation, and calls of “ Name,” “ Name,” “ Point him 
out,” which were not answered. 

This over, the whole company of somnambulists began to com¬ 
plain of cold, to shiver, and attempt to cover themselves with 
the settee cushions. Then they complained of hunger, and 
begged for bread, and sat down to a regular Barmecides’ feast 
upon the platform — eating air, and calling it beefsteak and oys¬ 
ters. Afterwards, they were tending babies with the utmost 
motherly fondness, but soon became tired of, threw away and 
stamped on them. Then they quarrelled, and threw the chairs 
about. 

A little before nine, a woman w r as brought upon the stage in 
a waking condition, as we understood, and the large woman, who 
was disturbed by the murderer, commenced manipulating, to 
entrance her. She persevered most intently for more than half 
an hour. A committee was then appointed to witness the ex¬ 
traction of a tooth. It consisted of Mr. Hawkins, the temper¬ 
ance lecturer, and Mr. Clapp. They examined the mouth, and 
pronounced the tooth a real one, firm in the head. It was 
drawn by Dr. Ball, with forceps, the patient herself holding the 


LECTURES. 


331 


light, and not evincing the slightest consciousness or sense of 
pain. The tooth, which was the second molar in the upper jaw, 
was passed round among the audience. The committee declared 
that they detected in the patient not the slightest emotion. 
When she had been partially recalled to consciousness, she de¬ 
clared she was ready to have the tooth pulled. We took the 
tooth in our hands, and know that it was no humbug. — Boston 
Chronotype, March 12, 1846. 

Lectures on the Human Soul. 

We cannot but consider Pathetism as almost a permanent sci¬ 
ence, after the new and important discoveries in Physiology and 
Psychology, which Mr. Sunderland has unfolded. To an investi¬ 
gating mind, an analysis of the phenomena of Mesmerism and 
Neurology is unusually interesting, as tending to afford a satisfac¬ 
tory explanation of the problems of that acute susceptibility of 
mind, the governing laws of which have so long perplexed peo¬ 
ple, often more than ordinarily intelligent. The philosophy of 
the mind has been ever a matter of mysticism ; and to exert the 
oontrol — a control without contact even — which this learned 
operator undoubtedly does exert, over the minds of men, is 
indeed astonishing. That men of science and deep thought, 
therefore, should be attracted to witness the truly wonderful 
works produced by the lecturer, is not at all surprising. To 
enlighten the understanding on these subjects, Mr. Sunderland 
has devoted years of patient study. He is far in advance of the 
disciples of Mesmer, both in this country and in Europe, and his 
truth and credit cannot be gainsaid. He does not follow the 
beaten path, but has originated an entirely new and truthful 
theory of the functions of the mind, which is demonstrated by 
appeals to the senses as he gradually proceeds in his experi¬ 
menting. 

To deny the practical utility of this science is vain, after the 
extraordinary results which have followed his treatment of affec¬ 
tions derived from derangement of the nervous functions, which 
embrace a wide range of diseases, often little heeded, but inevi¬ 
tably ending, if not timely checked, in death. A subject in a 
cataleptic state is unaffected by the severest tests that may be 
applied; the senses are deadened, and surgical operations may 
be performed with the greatest ease and safety to the sufferer. 
Frequent witnessing these experiments has led us from scepti¬ 
cism to firm belief. We have seen patients undergo surgical 
operations with perfect composure, without the slightest move¬ 
ment of a muscle, which, by the usual method, would have pro¬ 
duced exceeding agony. — Boston Daily Whig , Feb. 27, 1846. 


832 


PATHETISM. 


Gratuitous Lectures. 

On Monday evening, Mr. Sunderland gave one of his highly 
interesting “ Intellectual Entertainments ” at Tremont Temple, for 
the benefit of the Washington Total Abstinence Society of this 
city. The lecture was well attended, and the society will realize 
about one hundred dollars from it. The great interest which has 
been excited by these lectures has induced Mr. Sunderland to 
commence another course. At the close of the lecture on Mon¬ 
day night, the following resolutions were unanimously passed by 
the audience: — 

Whereas, having attended several of Mr. Sunderland’s lectures 
on Pathetism, and having witnessed his fearless and open man¬ 
ner, in calling for the strictest scrutiny of the most intelligent 
minds to a series of interesting, and, to us, satisfactory experi¬ 
ments, by which the truth of his new theory of the mind has 
been demonstrated; therefore, 

Resolved , As the sense of this meeting, that the high intellec¬ 
tual pleasure which an attendance on Mr. Sunderland’s lectures 
has afforded us, together with the permanent good which we 
believe has resulted from them, entitles him to the confidence 
and gratitude of the multitudes who have been benefited by his 
arduous labors. 

Resolved , That Mr. Sunderland be, and is hereby requested to 
afford his numerous friends, as soon as may be convenient, an 
opportunity of attending a course of private lectures on Path¬ 
etism, embracing instructions for Pathetizing, and the practical 
application of the science to the every day habits of life, with 
such other information upon this important subject as could not 
reasonably be expected in a course of public lectures. — Boston 
Washingtonian, January 8, 1848. 

What is Pathetism? 

This term has been adopted by Mr. Sunderland, editor of the 
Magnet, and those who favor his theory of mind, to signify that 
susceptibility of the nervous system which yields to the mental 
apprehensions, or to any other agency which is used to induce 
such phenomena as have been long known under the terms 
“ Mesmerism ” and “ Neurology.” 

He is at present lecturing to our citizens in Westminster Hall, 
where crowds have pressed to witness his truly wonderful psy¬ 
chological experiments. Indeed, hundreds have retired from the 
place for the want of room. 


LECTURES. 


333 


As it will, doubtless, interest many of our readers who may 
not be able to attend the lectures of this celebrated man, we 
here give a mere sketch of his experiments on Tuesday evening 
of the present week. The hall was literally crammed as full as 
it could be; the orchestra, aisles, and platform w’ere all occupied, 
and it was some time before sufficient order and silence could be 
restored for the lecturer to proceed. The subject for the evening 
was “ Dreaming,” “ Insanity,” “ Clairvoyance,” and “ Second 
Sight,” or ghost seeing. He gave what seemed to be a most 
clear and satisfactory account of some of the laws by which 
these states are induced, and then proceeded to bring on those 
singular phenomena in such of the audience as were susceptible. 
But it should be understood that he made no particular selec¬ 
tions of persons for this purpose. He brought his process to 
bear upon the entire assembly; and, notwithstanding the excite¬ 
ment and confusion which proceeded in the vast crowd, it was 
soon found that some ten persons were in a state of real trance. 

The lecturer used no manipulations, and said nothing in par¬ 
ticular to either of the patients; and yet we noticed that they 
left their seats and made their way up to the platform, where he 
was standing, in a state of trance, which Mr. Sunderland believed 
to be as real as any that ever occurred. One of the somnambu¬ 
lists described the angels and departed spirits which she saw, 
and the tones in which she sung and spoke affected many of the 
audience, even to tears. Her appearance was truly angelic — 
what the cause may have been we pretend not to say. 

Next, Mr. Sunderland restored one of the patients to wakeful¬ 
ness, and informed us that he would induce that state of mental 
hallucination called “ second sight.” And, sure enough, the 
lady, with her eyes wide open, arose and stretched her hands 
towards what she took to be the spirit of her deceased father, 
and with whom she conversed in a style not easily described. 
And what was still more remarkable, if possible, at this instant 
another lady, who sat near, and one who had not been put to 
sleep at all , gave a most piercing shriek, declaring that she also 
saw the ghost of her deceased sister, and it was some moments 
before the lecturer was able to compose and quiet her mind. 

In giving the above facts, of course we do not pretend to decide 
pro or con, with regard to Mr. Sunderland’s theory; as it is well 
known that he rejects the notions about the elimination of a fluid 
from the operator into the patient; but we do say that the man¬ 
ner in which Mr. Sunderland presents this subject is much more 
acceptable than that adopted heretofore; and the man who can 
work upon mind as Mr. Sunderland does, inducing some of the 
most interesting mental phenomena, without any contact with 


334 


PATHETISM. 


those upon whom he operates, (and these even utter strangers,) 
must not only have a mind of his own, but he must be intimately 
familiar with its susceptibilities, and the laws by which they are 
governed. — Providence (R. I.) Evening Chronicle , Oct. 21, 1843. 

Extraordinary Experiments. 

The experiments performed by Mr. Sunderland at his last two 
lectures in this city, were so very extraordinary, so every way 
unlike any thing we ever heard of before, and so very like the 
tales of the fairies, or the wonders of the Arabian Nights, that 
we frankly confess our inability to believe what we saw with our 
own eyes, but for our knowledge of the lecturer, and those of 
our citizens upon whom the experiments were performed. 

Mr. Sunderland had, previously, informed his audience that 
on Friday evening he would give a novel exhibition of Pathetism, 
by causing a number of the audience to fall into a state of som¬ 
nambulism before he (Mr. Sunderland) came into the hall. 
Accordingly, the place was well filled with an anxious multitude 
some time before half past six, waiting to witness results per¬ 
formed on the human mind so strange and unaccountable. And, 
sure enough, some considerable time before Mr. Sunderland 
came in, one after another was seen to arise and slowly approach 
the platform, and two gentlemen and one lady were seated upon 
it, besides a number of other cases, of persons in whom the 
trance was equally profound, but who did not leave their seats in 
the audience till some minutes after Mr. Sunderland had arrived. 

On Saturday evening, Mr. Sunderland reversed somewhat the 
order of proceeding, by actually inducing some eight or ten 
cases of somnambulism, even before the persons on whom the 
influence was exerted had reached the hall. The lecturer arrived 
a few minutes after six, and took his seat on the platform, as 
usual; and such was the great desire of the large audience who 
had assembled, to witness the approach of the sleep-walkers, 
that considerable commotion ensued. At about half past six, a 
young lady was seen entering the hall, with her eyes fast closed, 
the hands extended, and with a slow, and somewhat unnatural 
step she approached the place where Mr. Sunderland was stand¬ 
ing, and was seated upon the platform. Next came a gentleman, 
Mr. R., and then another, Mr. 1)., with the eyes closed, some¬ 
what awkwardly making their way up the aisle to the lecturer, 
who seated them upon the platform. Soon after, there came two 
more ladies, until there were eight seated upon the rostrum, with 
as many more entranced, promiscuously seated in the audience. 

After the statement of a few facts, showing the utter falsity of 
the old theories known under the terms of “ Mesmerism ” or 


LECTURES. 


335 


“ Neurology,” and proving that these results were not produced 
by any fluid, magnetic or nervous, he proceeded to the develop¬ 
ment of a series of the most curious and extraordinary phenom¬ 
ena. The patients were first thrown into a state of ecstasy, and 
with their hands clasped and elevated as in a state of devotion, 
they manifested in their countenances and conversation a state 
of mental tranquillity almost superhuman. While in this state, 
Mr. Sunderland drew from them some pieces of music, which 
were most beautifully performed. Next they were transferred 
into what they conceived to be enravishing fields of fruit and 
flowers, and now commenced a most diverting scene, for each 
patient made the motions as if actually gathering flowers, grapes 
from vines, and peaches from the trees, which they seemed to 
taste and eat with the greatest imaginable delight. 

“ Come,” said the lecturer, “ go with me in another direction; ” 
when, in a few moments, they began to describe every variety of 
wild animals. Among them was discovered an elephant, and a 
ride on his back having been proposed, they went through with 
the motions of mounting for that purpose. The expressions of 
fear, the agitation and tossing about, seemed reality to the life; 
till, in a few minutes, as if the huge animal had actually stum¬ 
bled and fallen, and the patients were thrown upon the floor, 
with cries of fear, and complaints of broken bones, which it took 
the operator some time to restore. 

Other interesting results followed, which were highly gratify¬ 
ing to the audience, especially in view of the facts referred to by 
Mr. Sunderland, that neither of those patients had ever been 
manipulated in the usual way, the trance having been induced 
for the first time, by his new process of operating, and they had 
never been operated upon together in that manner before. And, 
what was still more interesting to the audience, and those who 
wished to understand the practical benefits of Pathetism, Mr. 
Sunderland pointed out a number of them who had been most 
remarkably relieved or cured of some nervous disease. One, a 
Mr. A., had been cured of St. Vitus’s dance. Mr. H. had been 
cured of nervous sick headache; and a third was a case of 
amaurosis. The lady had been almost blind, and utterly unable 
to see or read without glasses; but since she first attended 
these lectures, she has thrown aside her specs, and has been able 
to see as well as ever before; and the lecturer pleasantly re¬ 
marked that, had he only been known heretofore as a good Cath¬ 
olic or Mormon, cures like those he had performed in these and 
many other similar cases, might have passed for miracles, and 
entitled him to a place among the “ Saints ” of the Popish Cal¬ 
endar, or made him the successful rival of the Mormon Prophet. 
— Providence (JR. I.) Gazette , December 17, 1844. 


336 


PATHETISM. 


Pathetism vs. Tobacco. 

Having attended Mr. Sunderland’s lectures without any 
knowledge of, and with little or no faith in, the practical utility 
of Pathetism, of course I was not prepared to anticipate much 
in the promised experiments. However, my previous knowledge 
of the character of the lecturer inspired me with the hope of 
being benefited in some way; and I now deem it but an act of 
simple justice to say, that I have not been disappointed. And, 
if I thought you could spare the necessary space, I am confident 
it would interest you readers if I were to give a sketch of Mr. 
Sunderland’s theory, and of some of the most singular mental 
phenomena which have been developed in the course of these 
lectures—results which have very much surprised and gratified 
the intelligent audiences who have attended. His experiments, 
performed as they have been upon strangers, and in despite of 
numerous opposing difficulties, have abundantly satisfied, as I 
firmly believe, nineteen twentieths of his hearers of the utter 
falsity of the hitherto prevalent opinions in regard to what has 
been called “ Mesmerism ” or “ Animal Magnetism.” 

One of the experiments last evening may be worthy of notice. 
I allude to the case of tooth-drawing performed on Captain Luce 
of this town. After he had been put into a partial state of 
sleep, the lecturer drew him upon the platform, and called on 
Dr. Ward to perform the operation. The ease and workmanlike 
manner in which the tooth was extracted, the singular quiet and 
composure of the patient, were too apparent to escape the notice 
of the audience. After being restored, Captain Luce declared 
that his sufferings, when he had teeth drawn before, were excru¬ 
ciating in the extreme; but this one had produced nothing like 
pain; the operation seemed to him like a dream. He further 
declared that Mr. Sunderland had, somehow or other, set him so 
completely against tobacco, that he could not now use it at all 
without nausea, though he had been an inveterate chewer and 
smoker, we believe. 

Numerous invalids, we are told, have been benefited by Mr. 
Sunderland’s new process of operating ; and the candor and sci¬ 
entific manner in which he has treated this subject entitle him to 
the respectful attention of our citizens. — New Bedford Bulletin , 
November 23, 1844. 

Unparalleled Surgery. 

The tenth and last lecture of Mr. Sunderland, on the Human 
Soul, was delivered, according to previous notice, in Morris 


LECTURES. 


337 


Place, to a crowded and highly-intelligent audience, on Saturday 
evening last. Long before the appointed hour, the house was 
filled, and “ expectation stood tiptoe,” to witness the extraordi¬ 
nary phenomena promised for the evening. At half past seven, 
the lecturer made his appearance, and immediately commenced 
the experiments, which were brought on while he was explaining 
some few things peculiar to his new theory of mind, denominated 
Pathetism. In the course of fifteen minutes, about a dozen of 
the audience were found to be in a state of trance, and six of the 
number arose, one after another, and walked in a peculiar, un¬ 
natural gait up to the platform, and, by the assistance of the 
lecturer, seated themselves upon the sofa. Among those taken 
upon the platform under the power of the charm, was Dr. H. J. 
Payne, the dentist, Mr. Ketchum, and a young man by the name 
of Althiser. The other three 'were ladies. After causing Mr. 
Althiser to dance, and a few other results, Mr. Sunderland pro¬ 
ceeded to prepare one of the ladies for a surgical operation, and 
invited the medical faculty, the clergy, and gentlemen of the 
press present, to the platform, for the purpose of having them 
inspect the tooth to be drawn, and notice the manner in which it 
was done. He then took hold of Dr. Payne, (who was still 
under the influence of the spell,) and led him up to the lady 
seated in the chair. And now occurred a sight upon which, prob¬ 
ably, mortal eyes never gazed before! It was, to see the som¬ 
nambulic doctor in the process of extracting that tooth, while 
both he and the patient were in a state of trance, and neither of 
them able to open their eyes or move a muscle without the con¬ 
sent of the lecturer. The tooth was very firmly set, and it re¬ 
quired an extraordinary outlay of strength to extract it. The 
lady sat, during the operation, without the slightest manifesta¬ 
tion of consciousness, though she is well known to be one of the 
most fearful and timid in her natural state ; so much so, that she 
has been thrown into spasms, it is said, when attempts have been 
made to draw her teeth while she was awake. 

In a few minutes after, the doctor himself was seated in the 
front chair, the spell still upon him, and another physician pres¬ 
ent (Dr. Lyman) proceeded to perform a similar operation upon 
him. It was one of the wisdom teeth, and had grown in such an 
unnatural manner as rendered the extraction exceedingly diffi¬ 
cult. Five times the forceps slipped from the tooth, and the 
violence done to the jaw was such that the doctor, we learn, has 
scarcely been able to open his mouth since; and though he de¬ 
clared that he suffered no pain at all at the time, it would seem 
that he has since suffered enough to make it up. 

This experiment was intensely interesting, and highly satisfac- 

29 


338 


PATHETISM. 


tory to the audience; as we suppose it the first and only one of 
the kind ever performed since old Adam was put into the “ deep 
sleep,” for the purpose of having the rib taken from his side. — 
Troy Budget, September 23, 1845. 

Great Revival. 

Our readers will no doubt recollect of seeing in the Inquirer, 
some months since, an advertisement headed “ A Tremendous 
Rush Wanted.” We believe the advertiser was never fully 
gratified in his very laudable desire to have the public rush to his 
store, and purchase his wares. However that may be, there 
have been several times since the appearance of the notice, when 
we thought the desired wish had been secured by other adver¬ 
tisers, especially during the delivery of the lectures of-. 

But the rush then was mere child's play compared to what it was 
on Saturday, to procure tickets for the lectures of Mr. Sunder¬ 
land that evening. That was the most of a “ tremendous rush ” 
we ever witnessed upon this goodly island, and the like of which 
does not often occur, probably not more than once in a century. 

Notice had been given the evening previous, that at ten o’clock 
tickets for the lecture would be for sale. Soon after nine o’clock, 
people began to collect round the places of sale, and before the 
specified hour, there were persons enough around and within to 
have purchased four times the number of tickets on sale. At 
ten o’clock, Mr. Macy’s store being thronged, he locked the 
door, and, amid much struggling and pushing, disposed of his 
tickets as fast as he could pass them out, announced the fact that 
they were all sold, and sent off several hundred disappointed 
persons, who had been on the look-out all the morning. 

But the rush itself, the “tremendous rush,” was at the office 
of Dr. Ruggles. Previous to the specified hour, the doctor 
found it necessary to lock the door, to prevent his office from 
being overrun. At the appointed hour, the door was opened for 
the purpose of disposing tickets to those without; but no sooner 
was the latch raised, than on pressed the crowd, open went the 
door, and in they rushed, pell-mell, of all ages, sexes, and de¬ 
scriptions. The besieged doctor intrenched himself behind the 
counter, and attempted to carry on the sale, but after a few 
minutes’ effort gave up in despair. He besought them to leave 
the store, declaring that he would not sell a ticket until every 
person had retired; but all in vain. Innumerable hands were 
thrust forward with pieces of money between the fingers, and 
voices crying out, “Doctor, give me a ticket,” “Two tickets 
for a woman,” “ Let me have a ticket, and I am off,” “ O, 



LECTURES. 


339 


don’t squeeze so; you’ll kill me,” “ A ticket for — get off my 
toes,” “ Here’s the money for two tickets — O dear! ” and so 
forth, and so on. While all this was going on, the doctor was 
doing his utmost to induce them to retire. One woman looked 
up to a person mounted upon the counter, who had just received 
the tickets for safe keeping, and with a most beseeching look, 
intended to move his heart, and impress him with the truth of 
what she said, cried, “ Let me have a ticket; I am a woman .” 
The ticket-holder looked at her, as if to satisfy himself of the 
truth of her assertion, but (we know very much against the in¬ 
clination of his gallant heart) was obliged to refuse her simple 
request. % 

After much persuasion, entreaty, scolding, threatening, and 
some coercion, the office was pretty well cleared, and the door 
locked. Now commenced the grand struggle; crash went one 
pane of glass; pull, push, struggle, kick, scold, swear — crash 
three more panes, the struggle all the while increasing, good 
nature rapidly oozing out of some, while others were disposed 
to laugh and enjoy the scene. By and by one poor fellow would 
be seen struggling to get out of the crowd, his vest minus but¬ 
tons, shirt bosom streaming out, and looking as though he had 
been “ kilt mtirely.” Some cut their hands, in their eagerness 
to obtain tickets, having thrust them against the broken glass. 
After much struggling, and several persons had been nearly 
reduced to a jelly, numerous hats crushed, corns trodden upon, 
coats torn, and much of a similar nature had transpired, the 
tickets were all disposed of. The crowd dispersed with the 
greatest reluctance, and for some time after the sale had closed, 
persons hung around the doctor’s office, hoping they should after 
all get a ticket. Finding it useless to wait, they gradually 
retired ; and where, but a short time before, there had been so 
much struggling, there was now a comparative silence. It was, 
in deed and in truth, the “ tremendous rush ” so lopg sought 
after. 

From the foregoing, some idea can be formed of the excite¬ 
ment created by the lectures and experiments of LaRoy Sun¬ 
derland in Nantucket. — Nantucket Inquirer, March, 31, 1845. 

Most Wonderful. • 

LaRoy Sunderland delivered the concluding lecture of his 
second course upon Pathetism last evening. He has been well 
patronized here. Mr. Sunderland had given notice that it was 
his intention to put a person into such a state of unconsciousness 
that a tooth could be extracted without the patient manifesting 


340 


PATHETISM. 


the slightest consciousness of pain. Those persons who have 
undergone the excruciating operation of having a tooth drawn, 
know full well that it is no mere child’s play, but will make the 
strongest-nerved man wince during the operation. Knowing 
this, we doubted the possibility of the operation being performed 
without the consciousness of the patient; but honesty compels 
us to acknowledge that it was successfully performed, even as 
promised. 

On Wednesday evening, after having put his patient into the 
proposed state, Mr. Sunderland invited the physicians to make 
such examinations as they thought proper, to satisfy them¬ 
selves there was no deception. Two of our best physicians (Drs. 
Ruggles and West) examined the patient, the location of the 
tooth, and satisfied themselves that it was firmly fixed in her jaw. 
Dr. Dillingham then commenced his work, and in a short time 
the tooth was taken out. During the cutting of the gums, fas¬ 
tening the forceps upon the tooth, and the actual drawing of the 
tooth, the patient did not exhibit the slightest consciousness, 
that the keen-eyed physicians could detect. She appeared to us 
(and we were upon the platform, close beside her) to exhibit 
about as much sensation, consciousness, feeling, as would be 
exhibited by a stick of wood into which a penknife had been 
thrust, and not a jot more. It was a successful operation, and 
the physicians stated to the audience that they were perfectly 
satisfied the patient was in a state of perfect unconsciousness, 
totally insensible to pain; of which fact every fair-minded per¬ 
son in the audience was undoubtedly convinced. What the 
agency was that produced this unnatural state, those who 
attended the lectures can judge for themselves, without any aid 
from us. 

Thursday evening, another tooth was extracted from the same 
person, by the same operator, under the scrutinizing eyes of 
several additional physicians, with similar satisfactory results. 
In this matter, Mr. Sunderland was very successful, excited the 
wonder of all who witnessed the operations, and, we should 
think, convinced the most sceptical. — Nantucket Inquirer , 
April 5, 1845. 

Astonishing Results. 

Mr. Sunderland continued his lectures on Pathetism during 
the last week, in Armory Hall, and produced results of the most 
astounding and fearfully-interesting character. It would be in 
vain for us to attempt to describe all that he did, and it would be 
useless to do so, for no person could credit the truth and reality 


LECTURES. 


341 


of the mental hallucinations he produced, unless they had first 
been convinced of the reality of the somnambulic state; and 
even then, the facility and frightful extent of the control which 
Mr. Sunderland appeared to exercise over his subjects, might 
reasonably lead them to doubt its truth, unless they had opportu¬ 
nities to investigate it, and to obtain full assurance of the integrity 
of the operator and his subjects. We had such opportunities, in 
public and in private, and we do not hesitate to vouch that all 
the phenomena produced by Mr. Sunderland were the genuine 
effects of an excitement of one or more of the various organs of 
which the human mind is composed, while those organs were in 
a state of somnolence. But we cannot expect any person to 
credit the astonishing results we have witnessed, on our asser¬ 
tion ; we would not credit them on the assertion of any person: 
it is only after investigation that they can be credited. A par¬ 
ticular description of the mental phenomena Mr. Sunderland 
produced would therefore be useless, and we will only mention 
two of the most singular that we witnessed, viz., second sight, 
or ghost seeing, and a common form of insanity. These two 
states he induced and explained in a very satisfactory manner, 
showing that the former was not a natural state, and that ghosts 
or phantoms were never seen with the natural eye — that the 
material senses could not take cognizance of immaterial things. 
Insanity he showed to be a result of the preponderance of some 
portions or organs of the brain over others, induced by violent 
excitement of those organs, or the inanition or inactivity of the 
counterbalancing organs, the effect of disease, or protracted 
excitement upon any subject. It was fearful to see with what 
facility he could induce these states, changing a sane and rational 
creature in a few moments into a raving maniac ; fearful, lest he 
should not be able to undo what he had done. But. he knew his 
power, and exercising it calmly, he restored his subject to unin¬ 
jured consciousness. Many of our citizens who have attended 
Mr. Sunderland’s lectures, and have had opportunities to inves¬ 
tigate the results he has produced, can with us bear witness to 
their verity. — Newport Rhode Islander , Jane 17, 1845. 

Surgical Operations without Pain. 

Thinking it might be gratifying to many of your readers, who 
may never have had an opportunity of witnessing the experi¬ 
ments performed by Mr. Sunderland* who has given us a course 
of experimental lectures on Pathetism the past week, I beg the 
privilege of stating in your columns the details of what I saw 
last evening, at the house of Mr. A. H. Bullen, of this town. 

29 * 


312 


PATHETISM. 


And I do this the more readily, because this experiment was 
considered by all who were present more remarkable and con¬ 
vincing, if possible, than any performed by that gentleman at 
the Town Hall. 

The patient was Miss H. G., a boarder in Mr. Bullen’s family. 
She had attended Mr. Sunderland’s lecture the evening before, 
for the purpose of having her teeth drawn, but was so much dis¬ 
turbed, that Mr. Sunderland did not think it advisable to have 
the operation attempted that evening. But she being exceed¬ 
ingly anxious for Mr. Sunderland’s assistance, feeling utterly 
unable to have her teeth drawn whilst awake, I secured the 
attendance of Mr. Sunderland, who last evening, in the presence 
of the family, put her into a profound sleep, which was continued 
for nearly three hours, and during it I took out for her four 
teeth and five roots, making in all nine separate extractions. 
Some of them required great physical force to remove, and yet 
not a muscle was moved, nor was there the least manifestation 
of pain; and when restored to consciousness, she appeared sur¬ 
prised, and exceedingly rejoiced and grateful, to find her decayed 
teeth all gone. 

This makes twelve teeth drawn by me from Mr. Sunderland’s 
patients, in this town, without the consciousness of pain; and I 
was informed by a dentist in Springfield that a much larger num¬ 
ber had been extracted from Mr. Sunderland’s patients in that 
town, and uniformly with the same results of those in this 
town ; and Mr. Sunderland states that in the different places 
where he has given lectures, during the last three years, he had 
had about one hundred and fifty similar operations, without the 
consciousness of pain. From these facts, it would seem that 
Pathetism may be turned to some practical and good account. 
After the operation last evening, and before the patient was 
restored to consciousness, about a dozen persons were invited in 
to witness the restoration; who, in addition to Mr. Bullen and 
family, will bear witness as to her surprise, and testimony that 
she had been unconscious of what had been going on. 

J. W. Smith. 

Northampton, December 22, 1845. 

Mysterious. 

LaRoy Sunderland has been giving lectures for several con¬ 
secutive evenings -at the City Hall, on Pathetism; and some 
experiments have been performed truly wonderful, upon different 
individuals in the state of trance. Among other operations per¬ 
formed upon individuals in this mysterious state, was the ex- 


LECTURES. 


343 


tracting of a tooth for a young lady who had not the physical 
courage to have it done when awake. The operation w r as per¬ 
formed by Dr. Mowe, without giving the person the least appar¬ 
ent pain, neither was there any emotion manifested in her coun¬ 
tenance. There can be no humbug about the matter, as it was 
done in the City Hall, before the whole auditory; and those that 
saw cannot help being convinced that some mysterious power 
paralyzed her nerves and volition, rendering her insensible to 
feeling. 

On Wednesday, the morning after the lecture, about nine 
o’clock, another operation was performed upon the same young 
lady. She had for years been troubled with the large toe upon 
one of her feet, which had frequently caused so much lameness 
as to render it difficult for her to walk, and she decided to have 
the toe amputated. We, in company with several others, were 
invited to be present. She was entranced, and her mind carried 
to a camp meeting, where she saw an old fat woman cutting up 
all kinds of capers, shouting, praying, singing, &c.; and while 
she was in this situation, the instruments were applied to the 
nail, by running one point of the surgical scissors under the nail, 
cutting it in two, and then, applying the forceps, the nail was 
torn out by the roots by the surgeon, and the patient not stirring 
a muscle. It was thought best to remove the nail, instead of 
present amputation. We never could before swallow this myste¬ 
rious science, but we are now fully persuaded; our own eyes 
have witnessed it. But the mysterious principles which govern 
this science we do not pretend to know any thing about. 

Mr. Sunderland is truly a wonderful man, and his experiments 
must be seen to be realized. We were informed by Dr. Curtis, 
the surgeon, that the pain of taking out a nail is equal to ampu¬ 
tation. We are now a full believer in Mr. Sunderland’s theory, 
but still in great ignorance of its principles, and therefore can 
give no explanation of whys or wherefores. 

After waking the patient, she knew nothing of what had been 
performed, but remembered the old fat woman at the camp 
meeting. — Lowell Niagara , June 13, 1846. 

Dentistry and Pathetism. 

The lectures of LaRoy Sunderland are exciting considerable 
remark in various circles, more on account of several dental opera¬ 
tions which have recently been performed upon patients while 
placed in a state of trance. These experiments are certainly ex¬ 
ceedingly interesting, and go far to indicate either the existence 
of some strange and inexplicable power in the operator, or a 


344 


PATHETISM. 


most extraordinary nerve in the person operated upon. During 
a brief conversation with Dr. C. S. Rowell, who has been called 
upon in three instances to extract teeth for those whom Mr. 
Sunderland has placed, as he says, in a state of unconsciousness, 
we were informed that there was no evidence whatever of phys¬ 
ical suffering, though the teeth were as firmly fixed in the jaw as 
were those of patients generally. Dr. Rowell has been in prac¬ 
tice as a dental surgeon for some twelve years in this city, having 
been in as extensive practice as any of this class of professional 
gentlemen, and has a reputation above any suspicion of collusion. 
On Saturday night last, we witnessed a specimen of his skill at 
the Mechanics’ Hall, in Broadway, during one of Mr. Sunder¬ 
land’s lectures, Dr. Rowell having been previously requested by 
the patient, a lady of respectability, to perform the operation 
of extracting several obnoxious teeth. In the short space of half 
a minute, he removed two central and two lateral incisors, one 
bicuspid and two molar teeth, all more or less decayed, which 
usually painful, but expeditious operation, the lady bore Mithout 
moving a muscle. We learn that on the previous evening, Dr. 
Rowell also removed four defective teeth from a lady similarly 
situated. — New York Daily Globe , Dec. 8, 1846. 

Passing Wonderful. 

The exhibition of Mr. Sunderland, at Odd Fellows’ Hall, in 
Norfolk, on Saturday evening, was highly satisfactory to a 
crowded audience. After a variety of psychological experiments, 
of which we have previously spoken, and for which we can find 
no other appropriate term, he concluded the evening with the 
dental surgical operation that had been announced. The patient 
was a lady of highly-respectable standing in society and in the 
church; her husband and friends were in the audience, and the 
former on the stand with her. After Mr. Sunderland had en¬ 
tranced her, he invited the medical faculty and members of the 
press to witness the operation on the stand. We, among others, 
accepted the invitation. Dr. William N. McKenney then 
opened the mouth, and with the lancet thoroughly separated the 
gum from the tooth; there was not the least evidence of pain 
exhibited by the patient, either by a sigh, a shrinking from the 
or the contraction of a muscle around the mouth, 
to be extracted was the first molar in the upper jaw, 
left side; the forceps were then applied, and while the surgeon 
was twisting the tooth, to loosen it in the jaw, and drawing it, 
there was not the slightest movement on the part of the patient 
that exhibited more sensibility to feeling than would a marble 


operation, 
The tooth 


LECTURES. 


345 


statue. The tooth had three prongs, curved inwards. The lady 
was then brought back to sensible motion, and asked if she was 
aware of any thing that had taken place. She replied in the 
negative. She was asked if she would have her tooth extracted. 
She again answered negatively. She was then asked to point 
out which tooth she thought of having taken out, when for the 
first time she became aware that it was out, by putting her finger 
to the place where it had been, and she exclaimed, “ It is gone.” 
It is wonderful, passing wonderful. We believe there was not 
one in that whole assembly that would hesitate to sign their 
names to the truth of this statement. We have not felt at lib¬ 
erty to introduce any other name, however, than that of Dr. 
McKenney, by whom the tooth was expeditiously and skilfully 
extracted. — Portsmouth (Va.) New Era , January 12, 1847. 

Mr. Sunderland’s Lectures. 

On Saturday night, Mr. LaRoy Sunderland delivered the last 
of his course of interesting lectures on Pathetism, at the Frank¬ 
lin Hall, Sixth Street, below Arch. The house was, as it had 
been on the previous evenings, crowded in every part, and great 
satisfaction was expressed by the audience. On Friday evening, 
among the different experiments exhibited, was one which inter¬ 
ested every individual in the room, which consisted in the per¬ 
formance of a surgical operation — the drawing of a tooth from 
the lower jaw of a gentleman while in a state of trance. In 
order that the audience should be satisfied of the perfect cor¬ 
rectness of the proceeding, several scientific and medical gentle¬ 
men, besides two gentlemen of the press, were called upon the 
stage to witness it. The writer of this paragraph speaks advis¬ 
edly, as he was present, and took pains to detect any thing like 
humbug, if it existed, which he failed in doing, after having 
exercised the greatest degree of scrutiny. The tooth, or rather 
the stump of one of the most firmly set in the lower jaw, was 
extracted by Mr. Asay, a skilful dentist, of the city, and in con¬ 
sequence of the character of the stump, it was taken out with 
some difficulty, and not until the prongs had been severed, which 
were taken out separately. The patient manifested no sensibility 
whatever, and was as much composed after the operation as he 
was before. The physicians and surgeons expressed the decided 
opinion, that no individual in a normal state could have main¬ 
tained that perfect degree of composure under the operation 
which the patient exhibited throughout. Several of the above 
gentlemen addressed the audience, and convinced them that 
there was not the slightest deception in the whole business. 


PATHETISM. 


340 

A gentlemen took the floor, and made a motion that Mr. Sun¬ 
derland be requested to remain during the present week, and 
repeat his course of lectures, which was unanimously carried. 
Mr. Sunderland stated that in compliance with the wishes of his 
friends, he would commence another course this evening. — Phil¬ 
adelphia Keystone , February 8, 1847. 

Valuable Testimonials. 

It is due to Mr. Sunderland to state, that his lectures on Path- 
etism in this city, and the accompanying experiments, have 
resulted in the increase of his own credit and reputation, as a 
philosophical investigator into the laws and functions of the hu¬ 
man mind, and greatly tended to the advancement of the science 
of which he is an able exponent. He has met prejudice with an 
open front and enlightened argument, and silenced incredulity 
by incontrovertible and demonstrative facts. What follows ? 
Why, that Pathetism is a substantial science, and that Mr. Sun¬ 
derland’s theory is in conformity with the laws of actual mental 
and physical existences, and in harmony with the nature of 
things. What he assumed in the outset he has fairly and con¬ 
clusively proved at the close. This may not have been equally 
obvious to every understanding present, but there are laws of 
evidence which no bias of the mind can subvert. They are 
independent of all passion, and make facts the witnesses which 
establish, by calm investigation, the omnipotence of truth. It is 
to these that Mr. Sunderland must and does appeal, and through 
their instrumentality the theory which he teaches becomes an 
actuality developed for the cognizance and use of the scientific 
and philanthropic world. The thing is proved. Let the medical 
and surgical fraternities look to it with an eye to the alleviation 
of human suffering and the prolongation of life. Let the meta¬ 
physician look to it as a key to some of the profound mysteries 
of human nature. Let all regard it as tending to enlarge the 
capabilities for enjoyment in our race, and as the means of un¬ 
folding new intellectual wonders. We are not afraid that God 
has delegated any power to his creatures without the necessary 
tendencies and faculties for its proper exercise. Wisdom and 
usefulness will attend the development and practice of Pathetism. 

As an evidence of the admirable deportment which has char¬ 
acterized Mr. Sunderland’s stay in Philadelphia, and the satisfac¬ 
tion which he -has given to patients who have submitted to his 
treatment, as well as to those whom he has initiated into a 
knowledge of the principles and mode of procedure in his sci¬ 
ence, a number of ladies on Saturday last presented him with a 


LECTURES. 


847 


splendid silver cup, in testimony of their appreciation of his 
manners, services, and talents as a gentleman, a lecturer, and a 
philosopher. 

We have, since these words were written, obtained a copy of 
the inscription of the cup, and herewith transfer it, literally: — 

INSCRIPTION. 

“ Presented by the Ladies of Philadelphia, to Mr. LaRoy 
Sunderland, for his successful and satisfactory 
experiments in Pathetism. 

1847.” 

Late in the evening of the same day, also, a professional gen¬ 
tleman present at the lecture, and, until then an avowed sceptic, 
declared, after a searching examination of the experiments, that 
he there surrendered up all his prejudices to the truth and verity 
of the science; and offered a resolution that Mr. Sunderland be 
requested to resume his lectures in Philadelphia at as early a 
period as convenient, foi* the benefit of our citizens, which was 
carried unanimously. The hall was crowded, and the audience 
very attentive. — Philadelphia Galaxy, Feb . 20 and 27, 1847. 

Pathetism Tested. 

By particular request of many of our citizens, Mr. Sunderland 
has been induced to give a second course of experimental lec¬ 
tures at Hampden Hall, to continue every evening during the 
week. It. will not be saying too much for the lecturer, to give it 
as our opinion that he has fully met the public expectation, and 
performed all that he has ever promised to do, in the way of 
illustrating his science. 

An incident occurred during the lecture of Monday evening, 
which is well worthy of record, and which, although it subjected 
Pathetism to a very severe trial, resulted in the complete triumph 
of the science. A gentleman [John Brown, since of Harper’s 
Ferry notoriety] in the early part of the evening, several times 
interrupted the lecturer, by demanding that one or more of the 
patients should be submitted to a test which he should suggest, 
for the purpose of proving whether they were in a state of in¬ 
sensibility or otherwise. After going through a variety of 
experiments, requested by the audience, Mr. Sunderland pro¬ 
posed to submit one of his patients (a young lady) to the action 
of the galvanic battery, provided the gentleman aforesaid would 
have the gallantry to receive the shock at the same time. To 
this proposition, the objector threw in his demurrer, and insisted 


348 


PATHETISM. 


upon the application of a test of his own. Having provided 
himself with a quantity of cow itch, he proceeded to rub it over 
the face and neck of the sleeping lady, and continued the opera¬ 
tion for full fifteen minutes. Finding that the subject manifested 
no symptoms of pain or uneasiness, he next applied a vial of 
powerful spirits of ammonia to her nostrils, holding it there a 
little over half a minute, without producing any effect whatever. 
The audience then, in compliance with a previous understanding, 
insisted that the gentleman who had supposed the lady an 
impostor, and applied to her person such powerful stimulants 
and irritants, should himself submit to similar inflictions. 
Accordingly the cow itch was applied to the neck and face of 
the sceptic, who bore the pungent smart with the fortitude of a 
hero of at least seven wars and one suicide! The ammonia test, 
however, was more than even his robust frame and manly 
endurance could bear. After drawing in his breath, and holding 
it as long as possible, he was obliged to “ dodge the bottle ” in 
order to get a snuff of “uncontaminated air.” His efforts to 
swallow, and putting up his hands to remove the vial, his strong, 
muscular frame, and his enormous firmness, contrasted most 
strikingly with the quiet, immovable sensibility, with which the 
young lady endured the experiments performed upon her. 

The audience, it is needless to say, were perfectly satisfied; 
and when the sceptical gentleman, instead of confessing his 
inability to endure what the young lady had done, attempted to 
apologize for his failure, the symptoms of disapprobation were 
very strongly manifested by the audience. — Springfield Post, 
Mag 20, 1847. 

Lectures on Pathetism. 

Mr. LaRoy Sunderland has for several weeks been engaged in 
delivering lectures on this interesting subject in Philadelphia, 
with wonderful success. We confess that we were sceptical with 
regard to all the phenomena; much less did we believe in the 
new discoveries in physiology, purporting to have been made by 
Mr. Sunderland; but after attending some of his lectures, and 
witnessing for ourself, under a close and minute personal investi¬ 
gation of the whole subject, in its varied and wonderful develop¬ 
ments, we became a profound believer in the theory of the ner¬ 
vous functions, known by the term Pathetism. His surgical 
operations upon patients while in a state of trance, are indeed 
astonishing, and may be regarded as triumphant vindications of 
the reality of the science. We had the pleasure to witness the 
extraction of a tooth of a patient — a young lady, in this state, 


LECTURES. 


349 


without any visible demonstration of emotion or pain. The den¬ 
tist by whom the tooth was extracted was a perfect stranger, both 
to the patient and Mr. Sunderland, and we understand, previous 
to the operation, an unbeliever in the science. During the per¬ 
formance of the operation, not a muscle of the face moved, nor 
was there apparently the least nervous disconcertion. The 
young lady herself held in her left hand the lamp by which the 
dentist saw to perform the operation. To convince ourself that 
there was no collusion, we personally handled and examined the 
tooth. The influence is exerted while the lecturer is descanting 
upon the uses of the science, and under its mysterious influence, 
persons rise out of the audience, go upon the platform in the 
vicinity of the speaker, and exhibit simultaneously and concor- 
dantly various mental phenomena, moral, intellectual, musical, 
grave, and ecstatic. Mr. Sunderland seems to possess in an 
extraordinary degree an intimacy with the susceptibilities of mind 
and the laws which govern man’s mental and physical constitu¬ 
tion. His lectures are evidently calculated to do a great deal of 
good in the practice of science as connected with man’s physical 
being. His several courses of lectures delivered in Philadelphia 
have been attended by immense audiences, and have given gen¬ 
eral satisfaction. We wish him, for his own sake, and that of the 
science, the same success wherever he may go. — Odd Fellow’s 
Mirror , Philadelphia , March 6, 1847. 

Pathetism in Worcester. 

East Town Hall. — This place was crowded to the utmost, 
on Friday and Saturday evenings, to witness the wonders of 
Pathetism. On Friday evening, Mr. Sunderland selected four or 
five persons from some twenty who had fallen into a state of 
trance during his remarks, and, after seating them upon the plat¬ 
form, caused them to go through a variety of mirthful, musical, 
and wonderful experiments. But the great experiment of the 
evening was reserved for the last. After waking all the subjects 
except one, (a lady,) Dr. Bishop was invited upon the stage for 
the purpose of extracting a tooth. Editors, clergymen, physi¬ 
cians, professional men, and others, were also invited to come 
forward, and see that every thing was as it appeared to be. 
Several persons availed themselves of the invitation, and, after 
being satisfied that the tooth was firmly fixed in the jaws, re¬ 
mained to watch the effect of the instruments of torture. The 
operation lasted some time, owing to the position, &c., of the 
tooth; but not a muscle moved, as all the gentlemen testified, 
who had the best opportunity of observing. Even the pulse 

30 


350 


PATHETISM. 


beat without the slightest variation. We believe that no one 
who witnessed the experiment doubts that it was fairly and hon¬ 
estly performed. The character of those of our townsmen who 
were upon the platform forbids any suspicion of trickery or col¬ 
lusion. The experiments on Saturday evening were no less sat¬ 
isfactory, although entirely different. — Worcester Telegraph, 
June 7, 1847. 


Great Excitement. 

Seldom have -we witnessed such an excitement in our sober 
village, as has been created by the lectures and wonderful exper¬ 
iments of Mr. Sunderland. On Tuesday evening, he gave his 
first lecture in the Upper Town Hall, having found the other 
entirely too small to accommodate the crowd; and by the rush 
on that occasion, we should judge that he had pathetized most 
of our citizens. We certainly saw many during the evening 
wide awake, whose organs of wonder and mirth were consid¬ 
erably excited. The experiments were splendid. Much earlier 
than at any of the previous lectures, the patients began to gather 
upon the platform, until there was no room for more. They 
were made to imagine themselves in various situations, which 
were indicated by their actions and conversation. They were 
then relieved from the spell, with the exception of Mr. C. H. 
Morse, the book-keeper at the Spy office, and a gentleman well 
knowm here, who desired to have a tooth extracted. The opera¬ 
tion was performed by Dr. Miller, who stated that he could not 
discover the least symptoms of pain. — lb., June 10, 1847. 

Pittsburg. 

Whatever may have been our opinion of the truth of the sci¬ 
ence called Pathetism, the success of Mr. Sunderland’s experi¬ 
ments has been such as to confirm our former predilections, and 
in fact to entirely preclude the possibility of a doubt. For in¬ 
stance, the extraction of a firm and almost perfectly sound tooth 
from a lady, by one of our dentists, without the patient evincing 
the slightest consciousness of pain, or perceptible movement of a 
muscle. Mr. Biddle, who performed the operation, and a num¬ 
ber of other professional gentlemen who examined the tooth and 
witnessed it, agreed in the belief that such a thing was impossible 
by any human System in its natural state. The influence he is 
capable of exerting upon the human mind is truly the most won¬ 
derful, mysterious phenomenon in nature. The great obstacle in 
the way of our credulity appears to be the apparently super- 


LECTURES. 


351 


human results of these experiments. The transmission of intel¬ 
ligence from one extreme of a continent to the other, with the 
velocity of thought, is the result of a principle in nature as inex¬ 
plicable as the result of Pathetism by the operation of one mind 
oyer another ; yet the truth of the former, from its practical and 
visible effects, is just as certain as any thing in nature. The 
subject is rapidly gaining favor and attention among the intelli¬ 
gent portion of community; and Mr. Sunderland, from his great 
experience, and the ability with which he treats it, has contrib¬ 
uted more towards giving it this importance and character, and 
established for himself a reputation not attained by any other 
gentleman in this country. — The Banner, (Pittsburg, Pa.,) 
April 26, 1848. 


Cincinnati. 

LaRoy Sunderland, the Pathetist, of deserved celebrity, is 
here in Cincinnati now, and affording abundant material for the 
excitement and topic of the passing hour. The Mr. Chase, who 
lectured on Pathetism in your city last winter, was the pupil of 
Sunderland, and, skilful as he showed himself to be, he was but 
the shadow of the intellectual power and professional ability of 
the master. When Mr. Sunderland came to the city, the people 
were so incredulous on the whole range of subjects of which he 
proposed to treat, that his audiences were scarcely numerous 
enough to pay his current expenses. Gradually, one and an¬ 
other dropped in to see the elephant, and becoming attracted by 
the marvellousness and inherent beauty of the subject, the atten¬ 
tion was riveted, and the reason yielded to the palpable success 
of the numerous and severe tests. His lectures are now crowded, 
and hundreds openly avow their settled belief in mental vision. 

Among the auditory on the last evening, we noticed Edwin 
Forrest and Samuel Lewis, both of whom yielded entire assent 
to the openness and perfect honesty of the wonderful exhibi¬ 
tions. Many who a few weeks since joined in the persecution of 
the generous Pascal B. Smith, and approved the verdict which 
decided him an insane man, partly on account of his belief in 
Clairvoyance and Spiritual Vision, are themselves quite crazy , 
which, being translated, means getting more intelligent than those 
who assume to be the leaders of the people. Every time I 
think of Sunderland, and his bold compeers the world over, who 
launch out into the unknown, and bring back new and brilliant 
acquisitions to the existing amount of knowledge, for the purpose 
of lighting humanity on the way to its redemption, I feel glad 
that I did not live in the times when those who monopolize all 


352 


PATHETISM. 


the Spiritual knowledge possessed also the temporal power to 
have stopped their dangerous heresies by binding them to a tree, 
and putting nails through their hands and spikes through 
their feet. 

Mr. LaRoy Sunderland is expected to visit our city in a few 
days. From the following notice in the Pittsburg Despatch, we 
are led to believe that the lectures and experiments of this gen¬ 
tleman are highly interesting and instructive, and will abundantly 
compensate those who may attend them. 

“ LaRoy Sunderland is astonishing our citizens with his very 
successful experiments in Pathetism, or whatever name is given 
to the science of the human soul. 

“ We have often felt a disposition to visit for a short time the 
world of souls, and prove to ourselves the correctness of our 
intuitive belief in the existence of an immortal spirit controlling 
and directing the actions of our material bodies; and had deter¬ 
mined to submit ourselves to the experiments of the first com¬ 
petent lecturer upon these spiritual mysteries who visited our 
city. In Mr. Sunderland we had every confidence, as a scientific 
and an honest man, from the notice of him by the press — such, 
for instance, as that by Mr. Greeley. 

“ And so we concluded to take the time necessary to effect our 
object, during his stay in our city. 

“ On Monday evening, we attended his first exhibition, and fol¬ 
lowed his directions ; before he had concluded, our eyes were 
firmly closed, and our will, to some extent, rendered powerless, 
and our actions slightly controlled by that of Mr. Sunderland. 
On Tuesday evening, we were much sooner influenced, and much 
more powerfully than we had at first supposed, although almost 
all the while perfectly conscious of all that was passing around 
us. The sensations we experienced were all of a pleasant nature, 
and a dream, of short duration, truly delightful; our imagination 
seemed freed from all earthly cares, and roamed at will among 
the scenes of our childhood. It was not until, despite our 
strongest efforts to resist, we were compelled to laugh, almost 
weep, and to show signs of ‘ combativeness,’ that we properly 
appreciated the power Mr. Sunderland had acquired over us. 
We find it difficult, if not impossible, to properly describe our 
feelings when entranced; when those around us were weeping, 
we felt as if some terrible, some soul-crushing calamity had be¬ 
fallen us, the precise extent or nature of which we could not 
ascertain, so folded our arms and bore it with as much stoicism 
as was in our nature. So when our cornbativeness was influ¬ 
enced, we involuntarily clinched our fists, and ground our teeth 
in rage, despite every effort to control our position; ‘ venera- 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


353 


tion ’ and ‘ mirth ’ were equally beyond our control; and (although 
we barely know ‘ Yankee Doodle ’ from ‘ Hail Columbia ’) our 
organ of ‘ tune ’ was so wound up that we enjoyed the music 
very much, and even kept time with it. Had we known the 
words of the song, we feel confident we should have given the 
audience a gratuitous specimen of our vocal powers which would 
have astonished them as much as ourselves. 

“Our ‘alimentiveness,’we presume, proved a hard customer 
for Mr. Sunderland. While those around us were partaking of 
strawberries, with all the gusto of the Barmecide at his feast, we 
were starving, possessing only the desire to eat, without the 
imagination to perceive the fruit they seemed to enjoy so well — 
a feeling which continued until relieved by Mr. Sunderland sick¬ 
ening them with a chew of tobacco, which we relished highly. 
All we had to regret was being awakened from the condition we 
had been in so soon. 

“ The lectures and experiments of Mr. Sunderland have been 
highly interesting, and we trust the audience will increase 
nightly.” — Correspondent of the Chicago Gem , June 14, 1848. 

“Salem Witchcraft.” 

Mr. Sunderland concluded his course of lectures on Pathetism 
on Saturday evening last, to a good audience. The evening’s 
entertainment was a rich one, inasmuch as the experiments were 
interesting and satisfactory. Quite a number of individuals fell 
victims to the sympathetic power of Mr. Sunderland at extreme 
points of the hall, who, after some twenty or thirty minutes, were 
drawn to the platform by the attraction of the operator. 
Whether Mr. Sunderland is correct in his theory — that this 
agency is not a fluid — we are not prepared to say; that is a 
matter of small importance when compared with the beneficial 
results it is calculated to produce. It matters not what the 
agency is, if it be only used to good advantage, and none but 
honest-minded men should be allowed to practise with its power. 
Of course, each and every individual must be their own judges 
in this respect, and they may be as capable in ascertaining one’s 
motives in this particular, as they would in any other action 
of life. 

Mr. Sunderland’s mode of operating is entirely different from 
any thing we have heretofore seen; it is original with him, and 
singular in the extreme. He brings the power to bear while he 
is lecturing, and as he seems to rivet the attention by his re¬ 
marks, your curiosity will be drawn off by the somnambulic sleep 
of some dozen or twenty persons, in various parts of the hall. 

30 * 


354 


PATHETISM. 


The effect produced in this way is amusing, to say the least; and 
when we find individuals in subjugation to this power whose 
characters are unimpeachable, how can we doubt the spell, the 
charm, or whatever signification you may please to give it ? 

As we before stated, some of the experiments were very fine. 
There were eleven patients upon the stage, and what affected 
one affected the whole. The sympathy was great, and ran ap¬ 
parently in a vein through the circle of this little community. 

On Wednesday evening last, a person was thrown into a state 
of sleep by the lecturer, without any passes, and, in that state, 
she had a tooth drawn, without any consciousness of the opera¬ 
tion, as far as we could judge. It was deemed a most satisfac¬ 
tory experiment by the audience, as they testified by their 
applause. 

This evening, we are told, another operation of the same kind 
will be attempted ; and the interesting phenomena of “ second 
sight ” will be exhibited. — Salem Argus , February 28, 1844. 

Satisfactory Experiments. 

We attended Mr. Sunderland’s lectures on Pathetism on Tues¬ 
day evening last, and were gratified with some very sensible 
remarks upon Swedenborg, and also with some very satisfactory 
experiments in the science which Mr. Sunderland claims as his 
own, and also, we might add, with some that were not so satis¬ 
factory. 

After a variety of experiments with a large number of indi¬ 
viduals asleep around him, he awoke all but one, who had come 
prepared to have a surgical operation performed upon her. 
During this operation, (the extraction of a tooth,) we watched 
her hands which lay carelessly in her lap. We could not per¬ 
ceive that they stirred a hair’s breadth. After allowing her to 
rinse her mouth, Mr. Sunderland awoke her and asked her to 
show him which tooth she was desirous of having extracted. 
She raised her hand to her mouth, and finding that the tooth was 
gone, covered her face with her handkerchief, to hide either her 
blushes or her tears. We believe that this experiment was satis¬ 
factory to all. It was to us. She said, in reply to a question by 
Mr. Sunderland, that she had no distinct recollection of what 
had passed. IJpon the whole, we regard the lecture and the 
experiments as more satisfactory and useful than any we have 
seen. — Bay State Courier , ( Worcester, Mass.,) May 22, 1847. 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


355 


Doubts Removed. 

Mr. Sunderland has entirely removed the doubts which our 
citizens generally entertained of his ability to do what he has 
done. On Friday and Saturday evenings, he really astonished 
every one who heard or saw him on those highly interesting 
occasions. And it is a settled fact that Professor Sunderland has 

a power over his audience wduch-, alias -, was unable to 

exercise, and which has gratified the more intelligent of our 
people far more than any lectures, exhibitions, or concerts, ever 
before by them attended. 

We attended the first lecture, and, during the evening, felt an 
indefinable sensation about the forehead ; the second evening, 
the sensation was so violent, that we left the hall before the close 
of the lecture, resolving not to attend another; and accordingly 
did not attend the third lecture, fearing that the disagreeable 
feeling would unfit us for the performance of our daily task — 
hoping thereby to gain relief. But it made no difference; the 
curious feeling was not removed; and we determined to grin and 
patiently bear our trouble, and stay away from the lectures. But 
on Saturday afternoon, we called at Dr. Dillingham’s office, and 
saw Mr. Sunderland, who, on learning the facts related above, 
immediately afforded the desired relief, and we came off re¬ 
joicing. We had been put partially to sleep during the two first 
lectures, but left the hall without having it taken off. — Nantucket 
Telegraph, March 31, 1845. 

Sceptics Convinced. 

Mr. LaRoy Sunderland concluded his course of lectures and 
experiments last evening, and as he will probably leave the island 
soon, we take this opportunity of expressing, on the behalf of a 
large and highly respectable and intelligent body of our people, 
(including the reverend clergy and every M. D.,) the satisfaction 
and pleasure which we have all experienced in attending his lec¬ 
tures. He has produced results which the most sceptical were 
forced to acknowledge as truly wonderful. We might give a 
detailed account of all his experiments, but cannot well spare the 
space it would occupy. We will, however, describe the surgical 
operations performed by our friend Dr. Dillingham, on Wednes¬ 
day and Thursday evenings. On the former evening, the subject 
(a lady) was put into the state of trance, and soon rendered 
insensible to pain ; she was then submitted to the examination 
of several doctors, (one of whom, Dr. B. H. West, stands at the 


356 


PATHETISM. 


head of his profession,) who subjected the lady to a rigid scrutiny. 
Being perfectly satisfied that there was no deception, that the 
tooth was firmly set and sound, and that the subject was uncon¬ 
scious, the doctor applied his forceps and extracted the tooth. 
During the operation, not the slightest movement was discernible 
in the face, indicative of sensibility; but in the forearm, there 
was an apparent subsultus tendinum. Pending the operation, 
the pulse fluctuated between one hundred and five and one hun¬ 
dred and eight; after the operation it was ninety-seven. The 
testimony of the doctors was, that the experiment had entirely 
satisfied them that Mr. Sunderland wielded an influence, com¬ 
pared to which the most powerful opiate was powerless. 

On Thursday evening, Mr. Sunderland produced a most as¬ 
tonishing result. He threw his subject into the cataleptic state, 
and sealed up the senses of smell, taste, hearing, sight, and 
feeling, so that ammonia applied to her nostrils, cayenne to her 
tongue, and heavy clappings at her ears, produced not the least 
effect; so with the sense of feeling — it was put to very severe 
tests. During all this, and while the doctor was extracting one 
of her wisdom teeth, the lady was as stiff and as unconscious as 
a corpse .—Nantucket Telegraph , April 5, 1845. 

Pathetism in Portland. 

As our readers will remember, we have frequently referred to 
this subject, in connection with the name of Mr. LaRoy Sunder¬ 
land, who, if the newspaper reports of him be true, has pen¬ 
etrated more deeply into some of the laws of mind, than it 
would seem to have fallen to the lot of any other man to do, in 
any preceding age of the world. And, as Mr. Sunderland has 
now commenced lecturing in our city, it may not be unacceptable 
to our readers if we should offer a few remarks explanatory of 
the new science which he is now endeavoring to elucidate. 

The term Pathetism, Mr. Sunderland uses as nearly synony¬ 
mous with Sympathy, to signify that susceptibility of the ner¬ 
vous system upon which impressions are made; as also, the 
immediate agency by which that susceptibility is reached, and by 
which any given mental or physical change is produced. He 
means it as a substitute for the terms heretofore used to signify 
what has been designated by “ Mesmerism,” “ Animal Magnet¬ 
ism,” or “Neurology.” From discoveries Mr. Sunderland has 
made, he is convinced that the assumptions heretofore maintained 
■with regard to a magnetic or nervous fluid, said to be transmit¬ 
ted by manipulation, or by the human will, out of one person 
into the nervous system of another, are utterly without founda- 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


357 


tion. The eliminations from the pores of the human body are 
unhealthy, and Mr. Sunderland contends that these eliminations 
do not and cannot be made to obey the human will, and when 
results are induced by manipulating the system, as under the 
processes recommended by Deleuze and Dr. Buchanan, they are 
not brought out by a fluid of any kind, but by sympathy, or the 
influence which one substance is known to have over another, 
with which it is brought into contact or relation; as a relation 
may be established without any physical contact at all. 

Mr. Sunderland has certainly done much towards demonstrating 
the truth of his new theory of mind, in the estimation of many 
scientific gentlemen throughout the country, who have become 
satisfied that those mental states called spells, charms, fascina¬ 
tion, trance, &c., are all dependent upon the same laws of the 
nervous system. Indeed, he classes all the phenomena which 
have come out under the various forms of religious fanaticism, 
or witchcraft, somnambulism, spells, &c., &c., under the same 
category; and, from what we have seen and heard, we should 
judge that he has succeeded in giving a more satisfactory expla¬ 
nation of these mysterious states, than any before ever offered to 
the world. 

His manner of illustrating the law of mind is certainly new 
and unheard of before; for while actually proceeding with his 
lecture, you will see the state of trance induced in one or a half 
dozen cases among his auditors; and a state of fascination, 
induced without contact, without touching or even speaking, par¬ 
ticularly to the persons who may be affected. The influence he 
exerts is said to be “ perfectly pleasant,” and, indeed, highly 
agreeable. The accounts we have seen from those affected by it 
represent it as being tranquillizing and composing to the nervous 
system, beyond what any one would imagine who never felt it. 
And this would appear also from the numerous cases of nervous 
difficulty, which Mr. Sunderland has so wonderfully succeeded in 
curing, and which had for years resisted , the usual methods of 
medical treatment. Want of sleep, troublesome dreams, headache, 
tic douloureux, neuralgia, spasms, fits, monomania, and insanity, 
are said to have been cured by his peculiar process of operating. 
It is in vain to deny that results like these could be induced 
without a most intimate knowledge of the nervous functions, and 
the laws by which they are governed. Indeed, we perceive from 
our exchanges, that it is becoming quite common for surgical 
operations to be performed without the consciousness of pain, 
upon persons whom Mr. Sunderland entrances in the course of 
his lectures. In his recent visit to Bangor, three experiments of 
this kind were performed, which afforded the highest satisfaction 
to the audiences who witnessed them. 


358 


PATHETISM. 


Philosophers have long been at a loss to account for many 
mental phenomena, which have been known from the earliest 
ages of the world. Indeed, they confess their inability to tell us 
what a state of ordinary sleep is. What is dreaming ? What is 
a state of ecstasy ? Of insanity ? Of somnambulism P Who 
has been able to tell ? Hence, we say, if any light can be shed 
on these states of the nervous system ; if we may yet learn more 
of the susceptibilities and powers of the human mind; if we 
may be assisted in the development of our mental powers ; if we 
may, by Pathetism, in any degree lessen the amount of human 
suffering, let us give it a candid examination. — Portland Amer¬ 
ican, September 19, 1844. 

Singular and Astonishing. 

The lecture and experiments of Mr. Sunderland last evening, 
in Norfolk, at the Odd Fellows’ Hall, were to us the most singu¬ 
lar and astonishing. What does he do to produce his results ? 
will ask the curious, who have not seen him. We answer, 
Nothing, absolutely nothing, but deliver a quiet, unassuming 
address to the mind. We listened and watched with marked 
attention to see if any enchantment, incantations, or spells were 
worked by the operator, but there was nothing of the kind. In 
a short time, however, in different parts of the hall, we saw per¬ 
sons — ladies and men — falling asleep. One in the seat fronting 
us was not satisfied until she had arisen and taken her seat by 
the lecturer, with her eyes shut, and while fast asleep; this was 
somnambulism. After five persons were on the platform, several 
beautiful experiments were made, such as an exhibition of the 
passions of joy, hope, grief, and actual weeping, and the expe¬ 
riencing all the terrors and inconveniences of passing through a 
terrible thunder storm, without shelter of any kind, &c. 

A true description of these things cannot be given ; they must 
be seen to be appreciated. To-night — the last that Mr. Sun¬ 
derland will probably be in Norfolk — a surgical operation will 
be performed before the audience, without pain to the subject. 
This is certainly the most wonderful triumph of mind over matter 
that can possibly be conceived of. Only think of it — the hu¬ 
man surface.is so delicate, that even a pin’s point cannot touch it 
in any part without pain, and yet the mind of man can render it 
insensible to the most excruciating tortures with the knife; at 
least, Mr. Sunderland can. — New Era , (Portsmouth , Va.,) Jan¬ 
uary 9, 1847. 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


359 


Mysterious Phenomena. 

The experiments of Mr. Sunderland, at the Odd Fellows’ 
Hall, on Saturday evening, were of the most astounding char¬ 
acter, and well adapted to make the large and intelligent audi¬ 
tory convened on the occasion to wonder at the mysterious phe¬ 
nomena exhibited in proof of the truth of this mysterious — 
shall we call it? — science. Yes, we denominate it science ; for 
if truth demonstrated be entitled to that appellation, then is 
Pathetism a science ; for its truth on the occasion referred to 
was so perfectly demonstrated, that we question whether a single 
individual present had any, the least misgivings on the subject. 
Indeed, to our minds, there was no room for doubt or misgivings. 
The experiments were so palpable, made upon our citizens, and 
under circumstances so free from the suspicion of collusion, that 
we question much whether every vestige of scepticism was not 
removed from the minds of the audience. We will instance but 
one of the many experiments performed on the occasion referred 
to, in proof of the statement made. A lady of our acquaintance 
being put into the state of trance, as Mr. Sunderland styles it, 
was conducted to the stage, immediately in front of the auditory, 
and whilst in that state, had an upper jaw tooth extracted by 
one of our dentists, without the least manifestation of pain or 
consciousness. It was a difficult tooth to extract, and during the 
operation, which was a somewhat protracted one, no motion of her 
hands, or any feature or muscle of the face, was observable. The 
operation over, and being roused up from this state, the lady 
assured the audience that she was entirely unconscious of what 
had been done, and when told that her tooth had been extracted, 
could only assure herself of the fact by the sense of her touch, 
so perfectly free from pain and suffering had she been during the 
operation. — Norfolk (Va.) Beacon , January 12, 1847. 

Nervous Phenomena. 

An astonishing instance of nervous susceptibility was exhibited 
at Mr. Sunderland’s lecture, at the City Hall, last Monday eve¬ 
ning. This gentleman believes the theory which ascribes the 
phenomena of Mesmeric experiments to the agency of a nervo- 
vital fluid, eliminated by the will of the operator, to be wholly 
groundless; and in place of it, he asserts that these phenomena 
are produced solely by sympathy upon the nervous susceptibili¬ 
ties, which he denominates Pathetism. After stating his objec¬ 
tion to the former opinion, he was proceeding to develop his own 
theory, when he remarked that it could be much better illustrated 


360 


PATHETISM. 


by experiment than in any other way; but as he had brought with 
him no subject upon which to operate, he wished to operate upon 
the entire audience; and if there were any present who were will¬ 
ing to submit themselves for that purpose, they might fix their 
eyes upon the head of his cane, w r hich he placed across the table 
before him, while he would continue his lecture. 

This he did for the space of ten or fifteen minutes, and in such 
a manner as to render it perfectly evident to all w ho heard him 
that he could not at the same time be concentrating his mental 
powers upon any individual for the purpose of producing sleep. 
And on pausing to inquire if any had been “ influenced,” it was 
discovered, to the astonishment of the audience, that no less 
than five persons, in different parts of the hall, were in a sound 
state of trance. The lecturer, on visiting these persons, found 
them all to be in communication with himself, as he showed by 
conversing with them. He declared that he was an utter stran¬ 
ger to all excepting one of the five, and that he had exercised no 
influence over them save such as he had exercised over all who 
were present, not being able even to distinguish them from oth¬ 
ers while in the desk; and he furthermore stated that this was 
the first experiment he had ever tried in this public manner, and 
probably the first performed by any one. This w r onderful result 
was such as to demonstrate the absurdity of the idea that the 
agency of any fluid is required in inducing what is termed mag¬ 
netic sleep, unless that fluid can be eliminated from the head of a 
cane, as well as from the head of the magnetizer. It was self- 
induced solely by the nervous susceptibilities of the subjects. 

Mr. Sunderland conducted one of the young ladies, after wak¬ 
ing her, to the platform, where she w'as again put in a state of 
trance, by simply fixing her eyes, according to his direction, upon 
a handkerchief placed upon the railing of the platform, while he 
was engaged in conversation in other parts of the hall. He then 
proceeded, and she imagined herself in heaven, described scenes 
and persons there, sang most melodiously, and exhibited other 
usual mesmeric phenomena. Her situation was evidently pre¬ 
cisely like that of a person dreaming, a portion of the organs of 
the brain being in an excited state, while others were under the 
influence of sleep; and this excitement being the effect of sym¬ 
pathy, or Pathetism. 

Probably Mr. Sunderland has done more to enlighten our citi¬ 
zens in regard to the true theory of Mesmeric phenomena than 
all who have preceded him; and it appears to be no such myste¬ 
rious and inexplicable matter as has been supposed, after all, — 
these phenomena being produced upon principles, with the opera¬ 
tion of which, under different circumstances, all are familiar. — 
Lowell Patriot , September 13, 1843. 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


361 


The New Theory of Mind. 

Pathetism is a word that sounds new to the ears of many. It 
has been used frequently since LaRoy Sunderland delivered his 
first lecture in this city, and there has been a good deal of in¬ 
quiry as to the definite idea conveyed by the term. We have 
attended two of Mr. Sunderland’s lectures, and have been much 
interested in his experiments and explanations illustrating this 
subject, and we here propose to sketch, as near as we can, the 
idea the lecturer intends to convey by the term Pathetism, and 
the theory which it is the object of his lectures to illustrate. If 
we understand him correctly, then, he applies the term “ Path¬ 
etism ” comprehensively to all those phenomena which have 
heretofore been described under the name of Animal Magnetism, 
or Mesmerism, which terms, especially the former, he seems to 
regard as indefinite, or rather, as conveying an erroneous idea. 
In their endeavors to account for the various phenomena of som¬ 
nambulism, and its kindred states in which human existence is 
sometimes found to be, the disciples of Mesmer have advanced 
the commonly-received notion that these results were produced 
by the operation of a magnetic fluid. The existence of this 
fluid, which has of course rested on supposition alone, Mr. Sun¬ 
derland does not believe in, and entirely discarding this idea of 
Animal Magnetism, endeavors to account for the phenomena 
heretofore ascribed to its agency in a more philosophical and 
comprehensible manner. And he has succeeded in showing by 
his experiments that no such agency as a magnetic fluid is neces¬ 
sary for the production of the somnambulic results. For he has 
repeatedly produced all those states of mind and body which 
Animal Magnetizers profess to produce by the magnetic influence, 
in such a manner as to exclude entirely the idea of any such 
agency as a fluid passing from the operator to the patient. He 
has succeeded in inducing the state of somnambulism in persons 
he has never before seen, without touching, without being near 
them, and without even looking at them. 

Mr. Sunderland’s theory is, (if we have rightly understood 
him,) that there is a certain relation which may be established 
between different individuals, which may be properly designated 
by the term “ Sympathy.” And that there is in all persons, to a 
greater or less degree, a susceptibility to being affected by the 
influence of this sympathetic relation. Persons, then, having a 
constitution peculiarly susceptible, may be impressed by some 
other person of an essentially different constitution, with the 
“ apprehension,” (as the lecturer expresses the idea,) that some 

31 


362 


PATHETISM. 


certain event in relation to them will take place, in consequence 
of certain means used for that purpose. This apprehension is 
produced by the power of sympathy, which is one of the prop¬ 
erties of human existence, excited by the influence of the opera¬ 
tor upon the mind of a susceptible patient. Hence, the Path- 
etizer, knowing from the constitution of the patient that the 
somnambulic state can be produced in him, seeks to impress the 
idea upon the person that such a state will certainly follow the 
use of some certain (no matter what) particular means. This 
“ apprehension ” of this result is induced in the same manner 
that any person would seek to impress the mind of another with 
any truth of which he deemed himself possessed; in the same 
manner that an orator would strive to impress his idea upon the 
minds of his auditors by gesticulation and the modulation of his 
voice. When this impression is effected, and the apprehension 
of the patient thoroughly awakened, the power of sympathy 
bends and directs all the powers of mind and body to the realiza¬ 
tion of the idea apprehended, and they, from their own sympa¬ 
thy, yield to the influence of the apprehension. In this manner 
all the phenomena connected with somnambulism are produced. 
And we understand that Mr. Sunderland thinks all those results 
that are common to persons in a somnambulic state may be pro¬ 
duced upon the patient when awake. As cases in point illus¬ 
trating this power of sympathy over human existence, he cited 
instances in which persons awake, and in their usual senses, have 
been remarkably affected by their minds being impressed with 
such apprehensions. These cases we have not room fully to 
explain, but they are those in which persons have been led to 
imagine that certain events were to take place concerning them, 
and by their very apprehensions these events have been pro¬ 
duced. We have not time now to extend our sketch of Mr. 
Sunderland’s theory in relation to some of the most interesting 
phenomena connected with man’s existence. His views are dif¬ 
ferent from the commonly received ones in relation to this sub¬ 
ject ; and although we do not feel ourselves competent to judge 
of them in all their bearings, so far as we understand them, we 
regard them as giving a much more satisfactory explanation of a 
subject that has been clothed in a great deal of mystery.— 
Lowell Herald , September 21, 1843. 


DEMON STRATI ONS. 


363 


Pathetism in Northampton. 

La Roy Sunderland has been among us, and wrought some of 
his signs and wonders in our midst. He commenced his lec¬ 
tures on Wednesday evening last at the Town Hall, and con¬ 
tinued them on each succeeding afternoon and evening through 
the week. Public curiosity was highly excited, and the hall was 
filled to overflowing. A large majority of the audience, like the 
ancient Jews, w'ent to see “ mighty signs,” and waited, in eager 
and impatient expectation, to behold them; while a smaller por¬ 
tion, like the ancient Greeks, demanded “ wisdom .” 

****** 

Mr. S. informed us that several whom we saw around him 
had come hither to have their teeth drawn, and he would now 
proceed to the operation. He then placed one of his subjects 
on an elevated platform, so that the whole audience could see 
her, and called upon the surgeons, physicians, clergymen, and 
editors present to come forward, and closely observe the per¬ 
formance. This request was immediately complied with, and a 
group of ‘‘professional gentlemen” soon surrounded the patient, 
whom Mr. S., after having put her into a state of utter uncon¬ 
sciousness, submitted to the hands of the operators, Dr. Smith 
and Dr. Walker. The gum was cut around the tooth, and a large 
double tooth of the upper jaw was extracted. The tooth had 
three prongs, and was set very firmly in the head, requiring great 
force to remove it. One of the prongs was broken off in the 
operation. During this operation every eye that could reach the 
patient was intently fixed upon her, and practised fingers were 
upon the pulse. But there was not the slightest perceptible 
manifestation of pain or suffering. Indeed, the patient appeared 
as perfectly insensible and passive as a dead body. In this thing 
there could be no possible deception. The fact was a stern re¬ 
ality, which no one present could doubt, without doubting the 
integrity of his own senses and reason. Another patient was 
then brought upon the platform, and subjected to a similar oper¬ 
ation, with the same results. 

On Saturday afternoon a third operation was performed. 
The patient w r as a lady from Southampton. Dr. Walker removed 
a difficult stump of a tooth, and broke his instrument upon a 
second; which operation she endured without any manifestation 
of suffering, and declared, when awaked, that she was conscious 
of no pain. 

On the fourth and last evening, Mr. S. was concerned almost 


364 


PATIIETISM. 


exclusively with his more recent subjects. He told us that sev¬ 
eral of them desired to have teeth drawn, and if he could succeed 
in getting them completely under his power, he should comply 
with their wishes; but as they had been so short a time under 
his influence, he was not certain of satisfactory success. The 
experiment this evening, though not more perfect, was, perhaps, 
the most satisfactory to our people. It was a daughter of the 
Hon. William Clark. She had never been in the mesmeric 
sleep till the evening before, and Mr. Sunderland had not seen 
her out of his lecture-room. As in the last described case, she 
was too recent a subject to be brought into a state of utter un¬ 
consciousness, and was unwilling to have her teeth extracted, 
but finally yielded to Mr. Sunderland’s wishes, and the doctor 
proceeded to perform the operation. The patient manifested no 
suffering, and when she was awaked, and closely questioned by the 
inspectors around her, she declared that she had not been con¬ 
scious of any pain, that there was no soreness in her mouth, and 
that she did not know, even after awaked, that an operation had 
been performed on her teeth, till she, at the request of Mr. Sun¬ 
derland, put her finger into her mouth to point out the tooth 
which she wished to have drawn. This testimony corresponded 
precisely with that of all the other patients who had submitted 
to similar operations. 

Mr. Sunderland repudiated the common notions about mes¬ 
meric power, power of the loill, &c., and said that he had no 
absolute power over any one, but his power was wholly condi¬ 
tional. If there Avas a certain degree of susceptibility in persons 
composing his audience, then he could entrance them, and he 
could, by degrees, bring them more and more under his control, 
till at length he could gain the complete command of their vol¬ 
untary actions and of their mental and moral manifestations. — 
Northampton Gazette , December 23, 1845. 


More Wonders. 

Mr. Sunderland’s last lecture Avas about as amusing an affair 
as it is possible to imagine. He found among his audience some 
fourteen Avho ascended the platform, Avhile there were a number 
who did not leave their seats. One of the subjects, an elderly 
lady, and another (Mr. Snyder), stated that they went upon the 
platform against their wills. This effect, we were told by the lec¬ 
turer in an early stage of the proceeding, would be produced. 
After the subjects were all seated upon the platform, Avhich Avaa 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


365 


not accomplished until one of the settees of the room was put in 
requisition, the experiments were commenced. 

One of the subjects was made insane ; for Mr. Sunderland 
stated that he could make people insane, and, hence, had the 
power to cure some cases of insanity, — one or two successful in¬ 
stances of practice in this respect having occurred during his 
sojourn in Providence ! 

The mad man rushed down the aisle, and lashed himself into 
the most terrific attitudes. We expected every moment he 
would either tear his linen, or make a dig at somebody’s eyes; 
but his madness was harmless. 

After the mad scene, the organs of one of the subjects were 
excited, and the effects were apparent, not only in him, but in all 
who were in a state of trance in the room ; or rather, the effects 
were apparent in all who sat upon the platform ; for a young man 
who was entranced near us indicated no signs of such sympathy. 

First, mirth was excited, and the whole platform burst into a 
wild laugh; then philoprogenitiveness, and all began to pet 
something, — some babies, others dogs, and others “ kitties.” 

Secretiveness was at last excited, and one or two of the 
patients at once commenced practising the effects of it upon the 
audience, and, had not some other counteracting organ been 
touched, he would have been a bright one who could have kept 
his small change in his pocket. — Providence Evening Chroni¬ 
cle, October 21, 1843. 


Painless Tooth-Drawing. 

I attended Mr. Sunderland’s Lecture on Pathetism last even¬ 
ing, and performed an operation in surgery upon a patient whom 
he had pathetized before the audience. It being in the evening 
the operation was rendered more difficult. The patient was a 
married lady of this city, having a decayed tooth, — the first molar 
in the lower jaw, — much ulcerated, exceedingly sensitive, and the 
gums greatly inflamed. The tooth was broken off even with the 
jaw, which rendered it necessary to cut away the gums and dis¬ 
sect the jaw-bone from the side of the tooth, to get sufficient 
hold of it to turn out the tooth with a key. This instrument I 
seldom use, as it causes the patient more pain than forceps. I 
turned upon the tooth twice without moving it; the third time 
I succeeded in extracting it. The entire operation was per¬ 
formed without the slightest contraction of the muscles, and the 
patient, to all appearance, was unconscious of pain. 

31 * 


366 


PATHETISM. 


The following persons examined the patient before I com 
menced and during the operation: Drs. E. J. Mattocks, B. S. 
Lyman, C. Dunton, and S. S. Guy. The experiment was per¬ 
formed in the presence of a large and respectable audience. 

H. J. Paine, Dentist. 

Troy, September 12 ,1845. 


Extraordinary Tests. 

Mr. Sunderland’s lectures on Pathetism, last week, continued 
to increase in interest up to the close. The hall in which the 
course was commenced was found inadequate to the accommoda¬ 
tion of the large and intelligent audiences which he drew to¬ 
gether, and on Friday and Saturday evenings he lectured in the 
Town Hall. During our own attendance most of his experi¬ 
ments proved satisfactory, so far as we could judge, and one at 
least was so triumphantly successful that it must have disarmed 
scepticism itself of all doubts on the point which it was designed 
to illustrate. This was on Thursday evening, when a tooth was 
extracted from a patient while-in a state of trance. The tooth 
was drawn by Dr. Perkins, and we watched the patient closely 
during the operation, without being able to detect the movement 
of a muscle or the slightest manifestation of consciousness in 
any way. Dr. Perkins testifies that the tooth came ordinarily 
hard ; and that it was a real tooth, planted in the jaw from which 
it was extracted by the hand of Nature, no one who believes his 
own senses can doubt. The idea of collusion between the lec¬ 
turer, the operator, and the subject, has been suggested; but 
that will not do. A gentleman of the bar, who certainly will 
not be suspected of conniving with the lecturer, selected the 
operator at his own request; and Dr. Perkins met the lecturer 
and the patient upon the stage for the first time. A medical 
gentleman examined the pulse of the patient during the opera¬ 
tion, and said he could discover no variation in it. 

After the operation had been performed, the subject was 
waked from her trance, and was asked what had occurred. She 
said she did not know. Mr. Sunderland said she had spoken of 
having a tooth drawn, and inquired if she would have it drawn 
then. She said she preferred waiting till she was put to sleep 
again. He then showed her the tooth, and her smile of surprise 
gave good evidence, if any were wanting, of her unconsciousness 
during the operation. — Springfield Post , November 25, 1845. 


DEMONSTRATIONS. 


367 


Concord, N. H. 

At the close of Mr. Sunderland’s Lecture, in this town, on Sat¬ 
urday evening, the following preamble and resolutions w'ere 
offered by Dr. H. O. Stone, and, after some remarks by the 
mover, in relation to Mr. Sunderland’s success in the cure of dis¬ 
eases, were adopted without opposition : 

Resolved, That Mr. Sunderland has induced, in our presence, 
a state of trance in many individuals of undoubted honesty, up¬ 
rightness, and morality; and that he has demonstrated , to the 
satisfaction of every candid and reasonable mind, the existence 
of a law of mental and spiritual sympathy by which he controls 
the motions, feelings, and thoughts of the individuals entranced. 

Resolved, That we have been entertained, instructed, and im¬ 
proved by Mr. Sunderland’s lectures, so successfully illustrated 
in the persons of individuals whom we fully confide in, and that 
we sincerely and earnestly desire him to prolong his stay in 
Concord, and continue his lectures. 

Resolved, That we appreciate the gentlemanly conduct of Mr. 
Sunderland under the embarrassing circumstances he has en¬ 
countered, and that our good wishes will attend him wherever 
he may be. — Democrat & Freeman, February 22, 1849. 


Portsmouth, Va. 

Mr. La Roy Sunderland has been obliged to remit his inten¬ 
tion to lecture on Pathetism in this town, by threats of violence 
uttered against him by certain individuals in the city of Norfolk. 
It was charged against Mr. Sunderland, by an individual in this 
town, connected with the Methodist Church, that he was an 
Abolitionist, in the offensive sense of that term ; and such a spirit 
of excitement got up against him in Norfolk, which threatened 
his life, that it was thought best by his friends that he should 
not stem it. We have only to say, that we have the best reason 
to believe that the charge against Mr. S. is wholly without foun¬ 
dation ; and we know that in his lectures there was nothing that 
had the most remote bearing on Abolition. That a great moral 
wrong has been committed, we hesitate not boldly to affirm, 
engendered by the same spirit that caused the multitude to cry 
out to Pilate to crucify the Saviour. The hospitality of our town 
has been invaded, and the letter of our National Constitution 
violated. The instigators of this act have a great reckoning to 


308 


PATHETISM. 


make somewhere. We cannot reconcile it with our duty as a 
man to let this deed go unrebuked; and in the name of our 
town we denounce the act that has infringed the dearest con¬ 
stitutional rights of an American citizen. A stranger, a gentle¬ 
man of profound study, and unassuming deportment, comes 
among us, and he is rudely driven off by the vilest slanders, 
secretly but industriously circulated. It is horrible to contem¬ 
plate ; and we had hoped that it would not have been carried 
to the extremity. On the heads of the originators of this wrong 
falls the evil. His great offence has been, we understand, in 
opposing the government of the Methodist Church; and its mem¬ 
bers or teachers have taken this method to crush him. 

We believe that Mr. S. would have been sustained and pro¬ 
tected here, if his friends had not thought proper to advise his 
leaving yesterday in the Baltimore boat .—New Era, January 
16, 1847. 


Pathetism in Philadelphia. 

At the close of Mr. La Roy Sunderland’s Lectures on Mon¬ 
day evening, March 8, 1847, in Odd Fellow’s Hall, the audience 
was organized by the appointment of a Chairman and Secretary, 
and passed the following resolutions : — 

Resolved, That we, citizens of Philadelphia, have been highly 
delighted, amused, and, we hope, morally and intellectually im¬ 
proved, by attending Mr. Sunderland’s Lectures on the Science 
of Pathetism, and we do hereby express our gratitude for the in¬ 
tellectual entertainment they have afforded us. 

Resolved, That, in parting with Mr. Sunderland, we feel tho 
loss of one who has endeared himself to us, not only as a most 
courteous and gentlemanly lecturer, but as one having the most 
profound knowledge of the human mind of any, or all, that have 
ever appeared amongst us; and that his mode of operating on 
his audience exclusively, without private subjects, precludes the 
possibility of collusion; and that the subjects being our relations, 
friends, and acquaintances, is to us, and should be to all, a suf¬ 
ficient guarantee for the truth of his experiments, and the most 
wonderful natural phenomena they illustrate. 

Resolved, That the common courtesy due to a stranger who 
has given such satisfactory evidences of the truth of Pathetism, 
at his numerous lectures to the dentists, doctors, editors, and 
other scientific gentlemen, specially invited upon the platform 
for that purpose, demands from them something more than a 
mere silent acquiescence, and that our press have been very re- 



DEMON STR ATIONS. 


369 


miss in not noticing more fully to the public the wonders of his 
performances. 

Resolved , That Mr. Sunderland, in leaving us, does it not for 
want of sufficient interest being manifested in the subject by 
Philadelphians, who nightly crowded his exhibitions, and who 
would still more so by a continuation of his lectures, until no 
hall within the limits of our city would hold them. 

Resolved , That Mr. Sunderland will always find attentive 
audiences, open hands, and warm hearts, to welcome him when¬ 
ever he can make it convenient to visit us again. 

John Evans, Chairman. 

Geo. W. Duncan, Secretary. 

Philadelphia Sun, March 10, 1847. 

The lectures by La Roy Sunderland continue to attract great 
crowds, and we do not wonder at it. Usually, about twenty or 
thirty persons are entranced in the audience, and some dozen or 
more go upon the platform. Mr. Sunderland makes use of no 
passes or manipulations of any kind to secure the trance. It is 
caused while he is lecturing. He usually speaks about half an 
hour, and then the remainder of the evening is spent in ex¬ 
periments. 

On one evening a surgical operation was performed upon an 
exceedingly nervous and timid young lady. For six months she 
had objected to having a large double tooth extracted, on ac¬ 
count of the pain she anticipated. But having been put into the 
trance by Mr. Sunderland, and her consciousness of pain sus¬ 
pended for a time under his influence, a dentist proceeded to pull 
the tooth. On the first trial the forceps slipped, and if there had 
been any collusion, the young lady must have manifested pain. 
But no, not a muscle moved. A second trial w'as successful, and 
the large tooth was exhibited to the audience as the evidence of 
the benefits of Pathetism. The young lady was now led to be¬ 
lieve that she had tobacco in her mouth, so as to cause her to 
spit out the blood; and in a few minutes she was aw r akened from 
the trance, perfectly unconscious of what had been done to her, 
and without suffering the least pain. 

We are no friends to humbuggery; but if Mr. Sunderland is 
a humbug, he is one of the most intelligent and successful ones 
we have ever seen. It were fully worth while to attend his lec¬ 
ture to see what can be done, whether we adopt his theory or 
not. 

Some go for instruction, some from curiosity, some for amuse¬ 
ment, and all are gratified. — Philadelphia Daily Sun, February 

17, 1847. 


370 


PATHETISM. 


Mr. Sunderland’s Intellectual Entertainments at the Frank¬ 
lin Hall continue nightly with unabated interest, and give the 
liveliest satisfaction to highly intelligent and respectable audi¬ 
ences. The hall is well filled with attentive listeners. The air 
of perfect candor which pervades Mr. Sunderland’s remarks, and 
the readiness and fairness with which he meets every cavilling 
objection, disarm much inveterate incredulity, and secure the con¬ 
fidence of the public. Animal Magnetizers we have had amongst 
us in abundance, and precious humbugs they proved to be ; but 
Mr. Sunderland stands before us a new light, the clearness of 
whose rays penetrate the previous darkness that had surrounded 
the subject, and fix the mind with pleasing certainty upon natu¬ 
ral and scientific results. In these there can be no mistake. 
He teaches that which becomes less and less doubtful the more 
it is investigated; and we do not hazard much in saying that, 
to Mr. Sunderland’s intellect, if its observations and deductions 
are properly systematized, the present age will become indebted 
for psychological knowledge. — Philadelphia Galaxy , February 
20, 1847. 


METHOD. 


Human Influence. 


u Mysterious Power! in thy divine control 
Is all that brightens and exalts the soul! 

Inspired by thee, the lofty spirit glows, 

And forms its plans to lighten human woes. 

At thy decree devotion brighter burns, 

And human thought each selfish motive spurns. 

The wretched seek a shelter in thy dome; 

In thy abode the orphan finds a home; 

For thee the invalid roams afar, 

Thy word his law, thy light his polar star! 

All that is good and noble, pure and free, 

Sublime and godlike, has its source in thee.” 

Conditions. 

From the information already given, it is supposed 
the reader must now either have some idea as to my 
methods , or, at least, he must be prepared somewhat to 
appreciate the rules which follow for the production of 
artificial nervous phenomena. The effluence exerted by 
human beings is the same always, as to its Psycho¬ 
logical elements, while its character or uses are changed 
and determined by the objects had in view, and the 
means used for their accomplishment. Human nature 
is a unit, and uniform in its elements; yet, developed in 
different degrees, both as to qualities and powers , it 
becomes manifest why it is that this power, while it is 
always human , has been known under so many differ- 

( 371 ) 


372 


PATHETISM. 


ent names. In healing the sick, it has taken the name 
of u miracle; ” exerted by the preacher, it is called “ the 
spirit,” “ the power of God; ” in another form, it is “ Mes¬ 
merism,” “ Methodism,” or “ Mormonism; ” until, finally, 
Pathetism, like Aaron’s rod, swallows up the notions 
that have preceded, and presents a theory which ac¬ 
counts for all by laws that are older than all creeds — 
laws that render us human, and when once understood, 
are found sufficient for accounting for all that human 
beings feel, or think, or do. Nature made us, says the 
proverb, and we marvel at it. We wonder at all Na¬ 
ture does, until we become familiar with her works, 
and thus satisfy ourselves that we have accurate con¬ 
ceptions of her forces. 

The whole of nature is made up of matter and mo¬ 
tion. We see the phenomena, the alternating condi¬ 
tions, which we denominate positive and negative, male 
and female, heat and cold, light and darkness. An 
influence supposes an object, which becomes the subject 
of motion. The intelligent speaker inquires as to the 
words he shall use in order to influence his auditory. 
The object in writing and speaking is the exertion of 
this power over the minds of others. If a parent 
should ask me how he might best succeed in Pathetiz- 
ing the mind of his child, I should wish to see them 
both before I could give specific directions; because I 
must know not only the temperament and constitutional 
tendencies of the child, but also the aptness, tact, and 
knowledge possessed by the parent, which would enable 
him to adapt what he did to the best possible advantage. 
As a general rule, I should say that the parent who 
secured the most confidence and love, would be the 
most able (other things being equal) to control his 


METHOD. 


373 


child. And thus with every other person. The one 
whose mind is the best constituted for this purpose, who 
has an aptness for controlling another, will, on the 
whole, succeed the best. Children, idiots, insane and 
stupid people are never very susceptible to artificial 
effluences. All have nervous systems, and, when the 
mind is in a suitable condition, impressions may be 
made on any one by the use of appropriate methods. 

To be successful. 

The means used must, in all cases, be met with an 
appropriate state of mind in those over whom it is to be 
extended. This peculiar state constitutes the suscepti¬ 
bility. This remark applies to all classes. The rules 
here laid down include all those principles involved in 
“ healing the sick by laying on of hands,” the change 
of habits and character, as in religion, and in the artifi¬ 
cial production of any and all forms of nervous and 
mental phenomena. Porkins, with his tractors, Mesmer, 
with his “magnetized water,” Greatrakes, with his 
“ passes ” upon the lame, and the Mediums of the pres¬ 
ent day, with their “hands on the sick,” have all at¬ 
tracted attention by the cures they have performed. 

And the multitude look on and wonder “by what 
authority ” or “ by what power ” these things are done. 
Thus it was in witnessing the demonstrations in my 
public lectures. The question was ever put to me, as 
to how these things were done. And my answer was 
always the same, frankly and candidly given; and when 
I have affirmed that precisely one and the same “ in¬ 
fluence ” entranced the people which brought them to 
my lecture, I have found now and then a few who 
could understand and believe what I said. I invite the 
31 * 


374 


PATHETISM. 


people to come to my lectures, and they come. I tell 
them that I will entrance them, and the trance follows, 
as the result of what I say. And yet, after all these 
explanations, so freely and fully given, it has been a 
common occurrence for persons in my audiences to 
attribute the “ influence,” “ the electrical currents,” to 
my spectacles, to my handkerchief, to my watch key, 
and to the head of my cane, on which I requested them 
to look while proceeding with my remarks. 

The Secret. 

The secret which may be said to secure success in 
these miracles, consists in two conditions or elements, 
which must meet and combine in order to produce the 
desired results. One of these elements, which seems to 
be active, we may call positive; the other, ’which is 
passive, we say is negative. These are merely relative 
terms, which assist in understanding what is implied in 
these two elements, which must combine when there is 
a visible operator. 

At other times, when there is no visible agent, the 
negative element becomes active, and brings on the 
changes, by that principle of self-induction already 
explained. Here is the first element, which we call 
positive: — 

That you assume the authority, and invest 

YOURSELF WITH THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE POWER 
EVERY WAY ADEQUATE FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF 
THE WORK YOU HAVE IN VIEW. 

It is not always necessary that the positive operator 
should be either intelligent or learned. Indeed, the 
more ignorant a “ Dr.,” “ Professor,” or “ Lecturer ” often 
happens to be, the more he will assume in regard to 


METHOD. 


375 


himself and his powers; and the more that is assumed, 
the greater his success. And hence it is, when a lec¬ 
turer happens to possess the faculty of mystifying the 
subject, and makes a flourish about the “nervous fluid,” 
“the normal and abnormal reactions of the nervous 
system,” “general and special pr e-significations,” &c., 
&c., &c., it enhances his powers very much. The his¬ 
tory of most of the popular excitements which have 
ever taken place under the name of the “Crusades,” 
and “ Revivals,” will show how very little it is neces¬ 
sary for certain persons to know, in order to assume 
supernatural powers, which the uninformed have always 
been ready to admit. Indeed, the more extravagant 
the assumption in behalf of “Alchemy,” “Witchcraft,” 
or “ Inspiration,” the greater the faith of the multitude. 
Instance the case of the ancient “ Oracles ” and “ Sibyls,” 
Mohammed, the Anabaptist leaders, Matthias, and John 
of Leyden, the French prophets, Joanna Southcote, 
Pope Joan, the Alchemists of the Thirteenth Century, 
Peter the Hermit, George Fox, Ann Lee, Joe Smith, 
and id genus omne. The advantage of assuming to be 
“ inspired ” by departed spirits, consists in this: if you 
have no influence or authority of your own, by profess¬ 
ing to be a medium for St. Paul, Swedenborg, or Tom 
Paine to speak through, you will attract attention, and 
become of some consequence with all who believe in 
“spirits,” and who do not know any better than to 
receive what certain “ mediums ” say about them. 

The element of mental influence here referred to, is 
manifest in the power alleged to have been exerted over 
the nervous system by Jesus, in the performance of his 
“ miracles.” Thus: — 


376 


PATHETISM. 


“ And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned 
among themselves, saying, What thing is this? For with au¬ 
thority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, [diseases] and 
they do obey him.” — Mark 1: 27. 

“ And he gave them power and authority over all devils, and 
to cure diseases.” — Luke 9:1. 

*‘And Jesus saith unto him, I will: be thou clean. And as 
soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from 
him, and he was cleansed.” — Mark 1: 41. 

“ He touched him, saying, I will : be thou clean, and imme¬ 
diately the leprosy departed from him.”— Luke 5 : 13. 

This element is found in all the “ miracles,” so-called, 
of healing performed by Jesus and his disciples. It is 
in all “ revival ” preachers, and I may add, it is never 
absent from the mind of any competent speaker or 
writer. To attempt a work for which one has no au¬ 
thority, nor adequate power, is not characteristic of that 
“ wisdom ” which is profitable to direct. The want of 
this authority insures failure. So it was in the time of 
the ancient miracles wrought by Jesus. Acts 19: 13. 
Those not possessing this indispensable qualification, 
undertook to imitate what they had seen done by Paul 
and others, failed, and involved themselves in trouble, 
as many an unsuccessful experimenter has done since 
the days of Sceva the Jew. True wisdom adopts ap¬ 
propriate means. When the means are adequate, suc¬ 
cess is sure to follow. The first element I have de¬ 
scribed. Here is the second : — 

That in the sick, who are to be healed, as, 

ALSO, IN ALL WHO ARE TO BE ENTRANCED, THERE BE 
FOUND A NEGATIVE CONDITION, A CORRESPONDING 
FAITH, A CONSCIOUS YIELDING OF THE MIND AND THE 

NERVOUS FORCES, TO THE IDEA-THE INFLUENCE, 

BELIEVED TO BE EXERTED OVER THEM. 


METHOD. 


377 


Thus we perceive what the two conditions are which 
must always precede the performance of “miracles.” 
And observe, now, how distinctly these two principles 
or conditions are manifested in the miracles of healing 
performed nearly two thousand years ago. See here: — 

“ The centurion answered and said, Lord, speak the word only , 
and my servant shall be healed.” — Matt. 8: 8. 

“ Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this ? 
They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then he touched their eyes, 
saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes 
were opened.” — Matt. 9 : 28. 

“ Ye have the poor with you always, and whenever ye will, ye 
may do them good.” — Mark 14 : 7. 

No revival was ever known, no miracle of healing 
was ever performed, without one or both of these con¬ 
ditions. "Whenever they meet in the physician and his 
patient, the former has “ only to speak the word,” and 
the cure is performed. Thus: — 

“ And he did not many mighty works there because of their 
unbelief.” — Matt. 13 : 58. 

“ Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could 
not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of 
your unbelief.” — Matt. 17 : 19. 

The condition here referred to constitutes one of the 
fundamental principles of the Christian system; namely, 
that man’s escape from an unending hell, and his salva¬ 
tion and happiness forever in heaven, are suspended on 
his act of faith. 

“ By faith we know thee strong to save, 

Save us a present Saviour thou; 

Whate’er we hope, by faith we have — 

Future and past subsisting now.” 

This is the Power that saves: — 

“If on God you dare rely, 

That faith will bring thee power.” 


378 


PATHETISM. 


Sectarians assure us that nothing is done effectually 
by man for his eternal salvation, when this element of 
faith is wanting. 


The Power . 

Hence the remark I have so often made, that the power 
which heals is in the sick, not outside; the power which 
induces the trance is internal, always. The suggestive 
cause may be in one of ten thousand different motions. 
When the physician is present, with the authority and 
power to heal, he “ speaks the word only,” and it is 
done; or he lays his hands on the sick, and they are 
healed. If not near enough to touch them, he does the 
next best thing. Thus : — 

“ God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that 
from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, 
and the diseases departed from them.” — Acts 19 : 11. 

“For she said, If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be 
whole.” — Mark 5 : 30. 

“ And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there 
went virtue out of him, and healed them all.” — Luke 6:19. 

Touching, or laying the hands upon the sick, as in the 
processes of Psychological experiments, are not always 
necessary, when there is a perfect conjugation of these 
two conditions. It was this discovery which enabled 
me, in the commencement of my lecturing career, to 
dispense with the “passes,” and all such incumbrances 
as the “ magnetized coin,” so much relied upon in the 
old processes of operating. 

Sometimes, it is true, the sense of touch enhances the 
effects, and in such cases, the physician touches the eyes 
of the blind, and they see; the ears of the deaf, and 
they hear; he lays his hands on the sick, and they are 


METHOD. 


379 


healed. By this process, the nerves are set to work, 
and thus the Nutritive Forces, the Self-Healing 
Energies of the patient’s own system perform the cure. 

The Idea , 

When once “impressed” sufficiently upon the plastic 
mind, becomes a Power in that mind. Witness the 
results induced in mediums by the Idea of “ Spirits,” 
and the permanency of impressions made on the minds 
of sectarians by the Idea of the “ Holy Ghost.” Such 
is the nature of the human mind, when it is once made 
to associate any given state of feeling with an Idea of 
any influence, real or imaginary. From these laws, 
priests acquire their power, and “ talismans,” “ charms,” 
“relics,” and “keepsakes,” are thus invested with an 
“ influence ” which results in the changes such things 
are known to bring about. 

Mysterious. 

The whole of life’s processes in nutrition, by which 
we receive and assimilate air and food, are mysterious, 
and carried on without our consciousness. The heart 
beats, the food is digested, without our knowledge. 
The tissues grow, and are wasted, with every breath, 
but precisely how all these things are done, no one 
knows, nor, indeed, is it possible for us fully to compre¬ 
hend these mysteries of life. 

And yet, we do understand why it is necessary for us 
to breathe in order to live. We can perceive the relation 
which good food has to growth, health and happiness; 
and so we can, in like manner, perceive the relation 
between certain conditions of the human mind, and the 
changes that follow in the nervous system. From the 


380 


PATHETISM. 


principles here elaborated, it becomes equally manifest 
how we are to account for those nervous changes I have 
described under the head of Self-Induction. The 
“ conversions ” in sectarian revivals, and the cures at¬ 
tributed to supernatural power, are thus explained. 
The lame are made to walk, the eyes of the blind are 
opened, the deaf are made to hear, the sick are healed, 
and the tongue of the dumb is caused to sing with j*Gy, 
by this “miraculous power” of Faith, or Self-Induc¬ 
tion, which inheres in every human soul, and which is 
all-powerful and omnipresent for the relief of all who 
suffer. 


INCIDENTALS. 


“ Ghosts.” 

Mr. Sunderland had a very large and intelligent audience at 
the City Hall last evening. In listening to his theory and ex¬ 
planation of Ghosts and apparitions, we were particularly struck 
with its similarity to that of the great poet, who seemed to have 
a clear comprehension of almost every thing. 

“ I never may believe 
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. 

Lovers, and madmen, have such seething brains, 

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 
More than cool reason comprehends. 

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, 

Are of imagination all compact; 

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; 

That is, the madman : the lover, all as frantic, 

Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt: 

The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; 
And, as imagination bodies forth 
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen 
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
A local habitation, and a name.” 

Lowell {Mass.) Herald , June 7, 1844. 

Neurology. 

Pathetism vs. Neurology. — The following may possibly 
amuse some of the believers in these theories, pro or con. A gen¬ 
tleman, (Mr. J. Matthews, 406 Washington St.,) known to be what 
Dr. Buchanan calls “ highly impressible,” was operated on by the 
Dr. and others with decided success ; and some experiments per- 

( 381 ) 



382 


PATHETISM. 


formed upon him by the Dr. before his class, at Ritchie Hall, a few 
weeks since, were declared perfectly satisfactory, in proof of his 
peculiar theory. Shortly after, Mr. M. went to Mr. Sunderland, 
who “ fixed ” him so that Dr. B. could not affect him in the least 
degree. On finding, after an hour’s trial, that he could not trans¬ 
mit his neuraura into him, the Dr. said he must get a clairvoyant 
to examine the patient, and see what Mr. S. had done to prevent 
him from neurologizing him! And, though Dr. B. is not able to 
make the least imaginable impression upon this gentleman, he is 
still more susceptible than ever before ; so much so, that Mr. Sun¬ 
derland is able to produce almost any effect upon him, in a mo¬ 
ment of time. This, we are told, is one case out of numbers of the 
same kind produced by Mr. S. in this city, from which it would 
seem that Pathetism, like Aaron’s rod, is destined to swallow up 
its rivals. — Boston Daily Mail , Feb. 4, 1844. 

Dr. Buchanan made his peculiar neurological passes 
over the head and over the body of Mr. Matthews, in 
order, as he said, to “remove the influence” which 
Pathetism had made upon him. After working an hour 
upon him in vain, he gave it up in despair. Neurology did 
not enable the Dr. to find out, either what Pathetism had 
done to Mr. Matthews, nor how its influence could be 
removed. And now, perhaps, the reader will be inter¬ 
ested if I were to disclose here the whole secret of what 
I did to Mr. Matthews, which so effectually prevented 
Dr. B. from “ impressing ” him. Well, here it is: I put 
my hand on his head and said to him, “Now Dr. Bu¬ 
chanan cannot impress you at all.” And, as I said, so 
it came to pass. This is Pathetism. 

When the author of “ Neurology ” was giving lectures 
in New York, in 1843,1 became cognizant of a series of 
his experiments, which demonstrated, beyond all doubt, 
the great error in his theory. Here is an account of 
one of them: Dr. B . had with him a Mr. Inman, whom 
he represented to be a wonderfully susceptible person, 
so much so, that the Dr. performed his most delicate 


INCIDENTALS. 


383 


“Neurological experiments” upon him; and such as 
were indorsed by Dr. S. G. Forey, and other scien¬ 
tific gentlemen of that city. While Dr. B. and Mr. I. 
were at the house of Dr. Yates, in Albany, Dr. Y. re¬ 
ceived a plaster phrenological bust, in a box, which I 
sent to him from New York. Upon taking it from the 
box and examining it, Dr. Y. incidentally remarked, 
that it was from Mr. Sunderland, whereupon Mr. I. went 
into a fit, “the bad neuoura,” from Mr. Sunderland, con¬ 
veyed by that bust, entered into him, and threw Mr. I. 
into spasms, from which it took Dr. B.’s “Neurological 
passes ” a long while to relieve him. 

Now, let us see. A few days after, Dr. B. lectured in 
Clinton Hall, New York, and finding a good opportu¬ 
nity, as I was unknown to Mr. I., I sat by his side, took 
hold of his hand, and held conversation with him. As 
Mr. I. did not know that it was the “author of Pathe- 
tism,” of course he was not affected by my “nervaura” 
in any way at all, thus showing how much his own mind 
had to do with the “fits” he fell into when he came in 
contact with a plaster bust, which he was told that I 
had handled. But it is proper that I should add, per¬ 
haps, what I have seen reported in the papers, that Mr. 
I. has since repudiated Dr. B.’s theory, having declared 
that his own mind was the principal “ influence ” which 
induced the “experiments,” on which Dr. B. founded 
his notions of neurology. 

A Hit. 

There are hits sometimes made, perhaps, by clairvoy¬ 
ance, under the name of psychometry. In the winter 
of 1843 and ’44, one who may be called an apostle of this 


384 


PATHETISM. 


notion, gave lectures upon it in Boston, during which 
time he performed various experiments on Mrs. O. J., 
an excellent lady, whom he considered one of his best 
cases. It so happened that, on the 19th of April, 1844, 
I fell in with this lady in New York, when I put a 
letter, which this gentleman sent me a few weeks before, 
into her hand for a psychometrical examination ; where¬ 
upon she gave the following description of the author, 
which was written down by her husband, and is now 
before me, from which I copy : — 

“ This letter was written in an unquiet state of mind. It was written 
by a person of strong social feelings, exceedingly liable to be swayed by 
prejudice. He lacks clearness of moral vision ; he would confound 
right and wrong; a person of good intellect—would not do justice in a 
case where he was personally interested. He is selfish — sorry to be 
placed in the power of such a person. This letter was written to pacify 
Mr. Sunderland, not from a straightforward, honest motive.” 

That Mrs. Johnson had no external knowledge of the 
authorship of that letter, I am certain ; and, whether or 
not she was clairvoyant in its examination, the reader 
must judge. She was a warm admirer of its author, 
and manifested considerable grief when she found out 
that he was the writer of the letter of which she had 
given the above description. 

What can it be ? 

Humbug or NO humbug, as you have a mind to call it, we 
must state what we saw at Morris Place Hall last night. Mr. 
Sunderland, after performing a number of experiments on per¬ 
sons he had pathetized, gave notice that he would then proceed 
to have a tooth extracted from a lady then in a state of trance. 
He woke those on the stand, and seven or eight more who 
were asleep among the audience, and then invited Dr. Payne to 
perform the experiment, under the inspection of the medical 
gentlemen then present, which he did after four or five efforts to 
get hold of the tooth with his forceps or key, it being so much 
decayed that he had to break off a portion of the jaw on each 
side to get a purchase on it. The operation was performed in the 


INCIDENTALS. 


385 


presence of some five hundred spectators, and they can all bear 
witness that the patient moved not a muscle of the hands or face 
during the time ; and when she was “ waked up,” she said she had 
felt very comfortable, and appeared astonished when the Dr. 
showed her the tooth, which was badly ulcerated, and told her 
that it was drawn during her sleep. 

We were in Dr. Christie’s store a moment after, when a lady 
entered, who appeared to be in a state of great suffering; she 
asked the Dr., in a tremulous tone, for a drink of water and a 
little ammonia. The Dr., after giving it to her, asked her if she 
had the toothache, she replied that she had had her tooth drawn; 
when one of her friends, who accompanied her, remarked that 
“ her tooth had not been drawn, but she was in a trance while a 
lady’s tooth had been extracted.” “ Well,” said she, “ I should 
like to know what is the difference, when I suffered all the pain 
of having one drawn ? ” — Troy Budget , Sept. 12, 1845. 

A Surgeon Entranced. — At Mr. Sunderland’s lecture, last 
night, in Mechanics’ Hall, Dr. Hoyt, of Boston, while in a state 
of “ trance,” performed the operation of extracting a tooth from 
the jaw of a lady, who w*as also in the same state of sleep, in a 
manner which convinced all who saw him, if not really asleep, he 
w r as no novice in the art of tooth drawing. To prevent decep¬ 
tion, however, and to satisfy the large audience, a gentleman 
stepped upon the platform and tied a handkerchief tightly over 
the eyes of the Dr. The performance was intensely interesting. 
— Providence Gazette, Oct . 1, 1846. 

That Pepper. 

An incident of recent occurrence at a lecture on Pathetism, is 
circulating about town, too good to be lost. A large woman 
was thrown into the magnetic state, and the lecturer, to prove 
the genuineness of his experiments, willed her to walk about the 
hall, which she did, with her eyes shut. He pronounced her in¬ 
sensible to feeling. A doctor among the audience, being curious 
to know the state of her nerves, sprinkled a little cayenne pepper 
upon her nostrils and lips. His curiosity was soon at an end. 
She flew at him with her fists and heels, and would have torn the 
unfortunate Esculapius to pieces, had not the lecturer mastered 
her combativeness, while the audience carried off the doctor. 

That Pepper. — We are authorized to state by a lady and an 
eye witness, that the doctor who insulted the lady a few evenings 
since, at a lecture on Pathetism, w r as put out of the lecture room 
by the indignation of the audience. “ Put him out! put him 
out! ” was the the universal cry of the audience; and his conduct 


386 


PATHETISM. 


was considered so outrageous, that justice will be appealed to, to 
teach him better manners. — New York Sun, Dec. 18, 1846. 

Persecution. 

Mr. Sunderland has been obliged to remit his intention to 
lecture on the subject of Pathetism, in this town, by threats of 
violence uttered against him by certain individuals in the city of 
Norfolk. It was charged against Mr. Sunderland, by an individ¬ 
ual in this town, connected with the Methodist Church, that he 
was an Abolitionist, in the offensive sense of that term, and such 
a spirit of excitement got up against him in Norfolk, which 
threatened his life, that it was thought best by his friends that he 
should not stem it. We have only to say, that we have the best 
reason to believe that the charge against Mr. S. is wholly with¬ 
out foundation; and we kyiow that in his lectures there was 
nothing that had the most remote bearing on abolition. That a 
great moral wrong has been committed, we hesitate not boldly to 
affirm, engendered by the same spirit that caused the multitude 
to call out to Pilate, to crucify the Saviour. The hospitality of 
our town has been invaded, and the letter of our National Con¬ 
stitution violated. The instigators of this act have a great reckon¬ 
ing to make somewhere. We cannot reconcile it to our duty 
as a man to let this deed go unrebuked — and in the name of our 
town we denounce the act that has infringed the dearest con¬ 
stitutional rights of an American citizen. 

We believe that Mr. S. would have been sustained and pro¬ 
tected here, if his friends had not thought proper to advise his 
leaving yesterday in the Baltimore boat. — Portsmouth ( Va.) New 
Era, Jan. 16, 1847. 

Revenge of a Somnambule. 

An extra performance came off at Mr. Sunderland’s lecture in 
the Tremont Temple, last Saturday evening; and, as it was not 
in the lecturer’s programme, we give the details here. It seems 
that a man named Patridge, said to be a travelling daguerreo- 
typist, on the Friday evening previous, took considerable pains to 
annoy one or more of the somnambulists, and particularly a young 
lady who sat before him. The protestations of the lecturer 
availed nothing. On Saturday evening he came again, and 
commenced his mischief with increased boldness, upon two ladies 
and one gentleman. For about half an hour he amused himself 
by sticking pins into the arms of those who were in the trance,” 
until he was discovered by the lecturer. Mr. Sunderland — who, 
en passant, has an innate love of fun, and can appreciate a joke 


INCIDENTALS. 


387 


as readily as any body, notwithstanding his gravity — at once hit 
upon a plan to pay off the incredulous daguerreotypist, and pun¬ 
ish him a little for his rudeness. Accordingly he approached the 
gentleman who had suffered somewhat from the pointed attacks 
of the merciless itinerant, and who was evidently much irritated, 
though still in a profound sleep. Mr. Sunderland asked him if he 
had been annoyed. “Yes,” exclaimed the somnambulist, “and 
I only wish I could get hold of the rascal.” “ You shall have an 
opportunity,” replied the lecturer, assisting him to rise and lead¬ 
ing him down the aisle — “ it- is time to 

‘ Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war ! ’ ” 

The somnambulist, having reached the vicinity of his tormentor, 
rushed upon him with all the ferocity of a bull-dog, and gave him 
a sound threshing. The pin-sticker w'as glad to escape with a 
whole skin, and we fancy will not attempt to “ stick a pin ” in that 
place again very soon. The audience, of course, were thrown 
into great confusion for a few minutes, but upon the lecturer ex¬ 
plaining the cause of the row, they tumultuously applauded both 
lecturer and somnambulist, who they seemed to think had served 
the itinerant daguerreotypist exactly right. — Boston Chrono - 
type , December 9, 1847. 

Solemn and Impressive. 

Those who have kept away from Mr. Sunderland’s lectures for 
the want of comfortable seats, will perceive that he occupies the 
large hall of the Tremont Temple every night during Christmas 
week, where we advise all to attend who wish to enjoy “ a merry 
Christmas.” To those who have not attended these lectures, no 
words could possibly convey any just conception of their real na¬ 
ture, or the importance of the subjects illustrated in them. In¬ 
deed, we may safely say that all that is pure in honesty, sweet in 
charity, warm in love, rich in wisdom, bright in virtue, steadfast 
in hope — all that is real in human happiness — is treated upon 
in these lectures, with a clearness and beauty in the explanations 
which do honor to the head and heart of the distinguished lec¬ 
turer. 

One of the most solemn and impressive scenes we ever wit¬ 
nessed, was developed by Mr. Sunderland during his lecture at 
Tremont Temple on Wednesday evening. There were some fifteen 
or twenty entranced ladies and gentlemen upon the platform, be¬ 
sides a still larger number in other parts of the hall; and, after 
causing them to have visions of numerous things, he was desired 
to cause them to have conceptions of a funeral scene. Slowly they 
gathered around the grave, some kneeling, and all exhibiting, in 


388 


PATHETISM. 


their features and tones, the solemnities of death. After pausing 
a while, one of them sung the “ Old Sexton” in perfect keeping 
with the scene, and such was the impression it made upon the 
audience, that many of them wept for some time after it was over. 
The impression made by that scene was worth the price of ad¬ 
mission seven times told. — Boston Chronotype , Dec. 29, 1847. 

Curious. 

A curious incident occurred at Mr. Sunderland’s lecture on 
Wednesday evening. A lady who had a mutinous tooth, on the 
assurance of Mr. S. that he could pathetize her, agreed to at¬ 
tend his lecture that evening in Tremont Temple. But mis¬ 
taking the room, she entered that occupied by the Mercantile 
Library Association for a lecture, and took her seat. In a 
few minutes she was noticed to be asleep, and a general titter 
ran through the immense assembly of merchants’ clerks, at 
the influence exerted by the lecturer below. So great was the 
excitement that Mr. Sunderland had to be sent for to take care 
of his misplaced patient. On his coming to her, she readily fol¬ 
lowed him to the stage in the room below, when, a dentist being 
in attendance, her peccant molar was removed, without disturb¬ 
ing a muscle of her face. — Boston Chronotype, Nov. 20, 1847. 

The surgicial operation on this young lady, performed 
in a state of trance, was perfectly successful. In about 
one year afterwards she was operated on for an ovarian 
tumor in the Massachusetts Hospital, where she died. 
She took chloroform and died; but whether from the gas 
or the surgeon’s knife, I never was informed. Poor girl. 
She sent forme to pathetize her,while the surgeons had 
her upon the table, but the doctors would not consent 
for me to be present, so I left her with a sad heart. The 
next news I had of her she was dead. 

Singular. 

There was quite a sensation created in Washington Street a 
few mornings since, by a young man, who was passing the store 
of Ross & Hatchman, suddenly stopping, fixing his eyes intently 
on something in the window, becoming partially paralyzed, and 
seemingly in great agony. One of the men in the store at this 


INCIDENTALS. 


389 


time took from the window a portrait, to be framed; when the 
young man on the outside, with the strength of a Hercules, 
forced himself through the crowd, burst open the door, and placed 
himself close in front of the painting, with eyes closed, to the 
astonishment of the occupants of the store. 

But for the timely presence of a scientific gentleman no one 
would have known how dangerous a state the man was in; for he 
had been entranced while in the act of passing a portrait of Mr. 
Sunderland. —Boston Herald, Feb. 4, 1848. 

The Suffering Poor. 

During the past six weeks, the intellectual entertainments given 
by Mr. Sunderland at the Tremont Temple have been thronged 
by the elite and curious of this city, and have always given the 
greatest satisfaction. His experiments in Pathetism are truly 
wonderful, and his lectures on the philosophy of mind have created 
quite a sensation. 

Somnambulism and humbug, we know, in former times, were 
considered as synonomous terms; but light has recently been 
shed upon the subject, and the discoveries of Mr. Sunderland have 
done much to convince the unbelieving. Let those who doubt 
the truth of Pathetism visit the Temple to-night, and however 
stuffed with prejudice, we think they will be convinced that there 
are more things in heaven and earth than were ever dreamed of 
in their philosophy. 

The entertainments for this evening are for the sole benefit of 
the suffering poor — the homeless, houseless, poverty-stricken 
wanderers on this fair earth — to whose relief the whole proceeds 
will be applied under the direction of the Parent Washington 
T. A. Society .—Boston Chronotype, Jan. 3, 1848. 

A Novel Suit. 

By the court reports of to-day, it appears that a man by the name 
of H. P. B. has sued Mr. Sunderland for “ work and labor done,” 
while he, the said Brown, was, as he alleged, in a state of trance. 
He went into that state voluntarily, and had a tooth drawn with¬ 
out pain by Pathetism. It did not appear in evidence that Mr. 
S. agreed to pay the plaintiff in this suit. Upon the whole, the 
matter is a veryfunny one. We have ourselves seen much that 
caused us to wonder, and especially at the exhibitions of Mr. 
Sunderland. We well remember his first experiments in Path¬ 
etism, and the crowds they attracted. Then he used, to pin 
up a handkerchief and tell his audience to look at it intently. 

33 * 


390 


PATHETISM. 


They did so. And it was remarkable to note the happy influences 
which that object exerted; large numbers of persons invariably 
falling asleep, and not a few rising from their seats, walking up to 
the platform, and going through with a variety of exercises, such as 
singing, preaching, dancing. It is now discovered that the real 
operator was Mr. Sunderland himself, and that the handkerchief¬ 
watching was merely a means which he used to compose the 
mind, and thus make it a more sure prey to the exercise of his 
giant will. The whole thing is a most mysterious mystery; and 
if we had time we would follow it up, and either get more en¬ 
lightened or more confused.— The Pennsylvanian , March 17, 
1848. 

Funny. 

A funny suit came off before Alderman White yesterday, in 
which the plaintiffs claimed damages for services rendered at the 
popular lectures of LaRoy Sunderland on Pathetism. It appears 
that Mr. S. was in the habit, during the evenings of his lectures, 
of inviting persons upon the stage, as subjects, to better illustrate 
his positions. A large number of persons, usually, would vol¬ 
untarily step forward, and among them were the two plaintiffs in 
question. For this voluntary act they demanded payment, and, 
being refused, they brought the action. Plaintiff No. 1 was to be 
witness for plaintiff No. 2, and vice versa; but, when the hour of 
trial came, No. 1 was “ non comeatibus ! ” The case, conse¬ 
quently, was postponed until to-morrow morning. The whole 
affair was very amusing. A large number of witnesses, males and 
females, were in attendance, and we anticipate a rich treat on 
Wednesday morning. — Philadelphia Keystone , March 14, 1848. 


That Suit. 

A rather queer suit is pending before Alderman White, in 
Locust Street, brought by two young men, Brown and Zelley, 
against LaRoy Sunderland. They have brought charges of $40 
or $50 against him for services in going upon the platform in a 
state of trance. He denies ever having employed them, and 
contests the suit. The trial was to come off yesterday at 11 
o’clock, and Mr. Sunderland came prepared, with a large number 
of witnesses, but Zelley, after going to the alderman’s office with 
Brown, eloped, and left Brown without any witness. Hereupon 
Brown asked for a postponement till Wednesday morning at 11 
o’clock, which was granted.— Philadelphia True Sun, March 
14, 1848. 


INCIDENTALS. 


391 


The fame of Philadelphia aldermen has long been 
known world wide. And the one here brought into 
notice immortalized his name by adjudging the de¬ 
fendant to pay $16 “for work and labor done,” while 
the plaintiff was, as he testified, in a state of “uncon¬ 
scious sleep.” 


Human Chloroform. 

What’s the use of Ether when LaRoy Sunderland is about ? 
According to a communication in the Prisoner's Friend, from 
D. L. Grandin, (a Boston dentist,) he went to Sunderland’s room 
the other day, and, while one of that enchanting gentleman’s 
subjects w T as in a “ trance,” he extracted nineteen decayed teeth 
from her head, “ without her having any knowledge of the opera¬ 
tion.” Another subject had sixteen pulled under the same cir¬ 
cumstances ! — Lynn Record , Jan. 6, 1848. 


Accounted For. 

The Reverend, “ good Lord, good devil,” sanctimonious, rail¬ 
road regulator man of the Olive Branch, pretends ignorance as to 
the reasons why Mr. Sunderland is ever called “Dr.” We will re¬ 
fresh his memory a little. Some twenty years ago, soon after 
Norris had a quarrel w'ith his own father about the payment of fifty 
cents, Sunderland administered a dose of ecclesiastical medicine to 
the aforesaid parson, Norris, for his bad conduct. That Sunderland 
was a “ D. D.” to the soul of one hypocrite, is proved from the 
effect his medicine has produced on T. F. Norris, who has been 
under its operation for the last twenty years.— Boston Herald , 
Nov. 27, 1849. 


Herr Alexander. 

A scene occurred at Mr. Sunderland’s lecture, last Thursday 
evening, at Masonic Temple, which, as it does not seem to have 
been in the “ programme ” for the evening, and, as it caused no 
small degree of excitement, and has been the theme of talk in 
the street since, we propose to describe. 

There was a large and fashionable audience in attendance on 
Mr. Sunderland’s lecture, most of whom had been drawn there to 
see the surgical operation performed which had been announced 
for the evening. Mr. S. commenced by giving a brief explana- 


392 


PATHETISM. 


tion of his manner of operating, and the nature of his experi¬ 
ments, or the results, developed from persons in a state of sym¬ 
pathetic trance. He wished the audience to understand, that his 
entranced subjects, when responding to his emotions or volitions , 
often used words which never came into his mind. They repeated 
poetry, and many pieces, with which he was not acquainted. All 
he could do was, to excite their emotional susceptibilities, and they 
each expressed themselves, according to their own respective de¬ 
velopments. Well, in due time, different requests were handed 
up to him, -with which he complied, to the general delight and 
satisfaction of his numerous auditory. And now he was handed 
a paper, most miserably written, in the following words: — 

“ Mr. Sundeland, mack all of your subjects tell what Herr alex- 
ander doon at the Malodom and how meny glass lampes he lighted 
this evening by a pistol shout, tell me this then i will believe in 
you. Henry.” 

Mr. Sunderland took the paper, and, after looking at it, as if 
he found it somewhat difficult to decipher, said to his somnam¬ 
bulic patients, (about twenty of whom were on the platform with 
him) — “ Now, will you go with me ? ” “ Yes,” they responded, 

and soon began to imagine themselves in a building where there 
were many people. 

And finally they said, “ There was something going on there, 
or had been—there was a juggler, &c., and ever so many lamps.” 
They hushed, as if to hear what was said, and then gave a sudden 
start, and made exclamations of wonder to see “ so many lamps 
burning.” “ Well,” said Mr. S., “ tell me whom you see here. Is 
that the real Simon Pure Herr Alexander ? ” “ No ! it is not! it 

is another person /” On concluding the experiment, Mr. S. read 
the above request, as is his common practice, to show the reason 
for results he had developed. Immediately on this, the man who 
calls himself “ the Simon Pure Herr Alexander,” stepped upon 
the platform in a state of great excitement, and avowed himself 
as the writer of that paper, and asked of Mr. Sunderland per¬ 
mission to speak. “ Certainly,” said Mr. S. Mr. A. then went on 
to say, that “ wdien he heard what had been said about himself, 
during the last experiment, he felt as though he was sitting on 
hot iron” “ I am,” said he, “Herr Alexander, and if I falsify, 
sir, I give you liberty to take my life. But you, sir, have falsi¬ 
fied—you have said I was an impostor, and now I demand satisfac¬ 
tion, and if you do not give it to me here, I will seek it elsewhere 
to the full extent of the law.” Mr. Sunderland calmly replied: 
“ Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot fail to have noticed that the 
person who has addressed you has done me great injustice. He 
certainly errs when he charges me with having spoken of him as 


INCIDENTALS. 


893 


an impostor. The experiment was one of his own seeking. I knew 
that he was not in the Melodeon, probably, to-night. My patients 
have given their own impressions, some of them undoubtedly 
gained in their normal state from the papers; for in the daily 
papers of this city it has been stated that the man performing at 
the Melodeon was not the veritable Herr Alexander. 

“ And now, I ask, if this man be the true one, why he does not 
meet that statement in the papers ! and not come here to have that 
question settled ? I am not his enemy — I have nothing to say 
against him — I forgive him the wrong he has done me. and as it 
is now nearly nine o’clock, and I have a surgical operation to per¬ 
form to-night, let me hope that we may not be any longer delayed.” 

Mr. “ Alexander ” now attempted to speak again, but was 
hissed down , whereupon Mr. Sunderland begged of his audience 
to hear him, patiently, if he occupied a full hour. The assembly 
becoming quiet, Mr. A. again began to speak, and Mr. S. invited 
him on the platform. On reaching it, he turned, and throwing 
out his finger to Mr. Sunderland, said, “ You are a liar , sir ! ” 
and went on to say that Mr. S. “ should get down on his hands 
and knees to him and make a suitable apology ! ” On hearing 
this, the audience were convulsed with indignation, and insisted 
on his being put out of the house. One large man went up to 
him, and told him to make tracks for the door, which he did in 
great trepidation; Mr. Sunderland, in the mean time, begging 
that he might not be ill used, or forced to depart. The scene 
■was quite exciting, and on inquiry, we find that “ Herr Alex¬ 
ander ” stood about the door of the Temple till Mr. S. came out, 
and then he followed him into the ticket office, where a lengthy 
conference ensued between them, in the presence of the janitor, 
Mr. Martin, to whom Alexander acknowledged that he w r as not 
a Mason. (Mr. Sunderland and the true Herr Alexander are 
Masons.) He (Mr. A.) said Mr. S. had denounced him as an 
impostor, and he wanted satisfaction. Mr. S. denied that he had 
satisfaction to give. He thought an apology ought to come from 
him, as the audience had testified by thrusting him out of the 
house. — Boston Daily Bee , Jan. 2, 1850. 

A Just Rebuke. 

At Mr. Sunderland’s lecture in Masonic Temple, last Friday 
evening, an occurrence took place which called forth from that 
gentleman a scathing rebuke of the negro-hating spirit, which, 
alas ! seems yet to linger in too many hearts in Boston. Among 
others fascinated and drawn upon his platform, was a respectable 
colored person. As she was seen to approach the platform, there 


394 


PATHETISM. 


were a few hisses in a remote part of the hall, apparently from 
young men. Mr. Sunderland, looking around with mingled emo¬ 
tions of astonishment and indignant grief, exclaimed : — 

“ Ladies and gentlemen! I have travelled and lectured at the 
South, and among the slaveholders, where, indeed, I was once 
mobbed, and ordered to leave, with a dagger pointed at my 
breast. Yes, in that land of distilled tyranny and slaveholding, 
have I fascinated both black and white, and never once did I hear 
manifested the signs of disapprobation which have saluted my ears 
here to-night. No, never did I hear or see the manifestation of 
any such feeling there ! And, gracious Heaven! is it reserved 
for Boston, this Athens of America, to be the last resort of this 
hateful spirit ? Why, I would pathetize the devil himself, and 
do him good, if I had the power, and how much more the poor 
and despised of my race ! ” The response from the audience left 
no room to doubt that, in the views and feelings expressed by 
the lecturer they fully sympathized, with the sorry exception, 
perhaps, of two or three. 

We are informed that numbers of colored persons have been 
fascinated by Mr. Sunderland, in his recent lectures in this city, 
and among the number are Henry Box Brown and Ellen Crafts. 
— Boston Liberator, Jan. 4, 1850. 

Startling Theories. 

The nineteenth century has many peculiar and remarkable fea¬ 
tures. It is an era preeminent for its physical and intellectual 
activity; an era congenial to the development of new and start¬ 
ling theories, and an era that gives unquestionable criteria and 
evidence that the march of mind is even upward and onward. 
The embryo of the future is not only prolific with vast and won¬ 
derful phenomena in general knowledge and science, which time 
will yet elucidate, but it is also redundant with what we now con¬ 
sider as vague, incredible, and undefinable ; in that which startles, 
astonishes, and staggers our credulity, and in those anomalisms 
which seem the contrariety of every thing, and the proof positive 
of nothing. Indeed, so strongly predisposed is our belief in the 
extraordinary and miraculous fecundity of the future, that we are 
surprised in this late hour at nothing! and are therefore prepared 
to meet and witness the great and absorbing discoveries of the 
nineteenth century without even winking or staring. 

Pathetism is a new phrase for what we usually term Mesmer¬ 
ism or Magnetism. It sounds very oddly to those unfamiliar 
with its meaning; and we ourselves thought it a misnomer until 
we had sounded it with our analytical plummet. With the theory 


INCIDENTALS. 


395 


and principle of Mesmer, we have been conversant for some six or 
eight years; and one of us, a proselyte and firm believer in mes¬ 
merism since 1840. The citizens of this place have been very 
sceptical and intolerant as to the truths and realities of magne¬ 
tism, from the many and repeated failures which have occurred 
to lecturers here, prior to the present winter. Within the past 
fortnight, a series of lectures on Pathetism have been delivered 
before our citizens by LaRoy Sunderland; and in all cordiality we 
say he has acquitted himself in a felicitous and satisfactory manner. 
His style of operating is certainly original , and the various experi¬ 
ments which we have witnessed have impressed the most scepti¬ 
cal with the truthfulness of Pathetism. The surgical operations 
were also of a character and nature to convince us that no colli¬ 
sion or deception was practised. Of the Psychological experi¬ 
ments w r e would decline expressing an opinion — our pulpit friends 
will probably enlighten the public on this point. 

But still there are many people who doubt and differ as to the 
ultimate benefits which the world will derive from Pathetism ; 
and we editors are of this class. That surgical operations can be 
performed on patients while entranced, is admitted; and perhaps 
diseases may also be cured. But the amount of evil which can 
be produced by this agency may eventually preponderate over 
the good. But we leave this to the consideration of those who 
are more intimately connected or interested in Pathetism than 
ourselves. But here’s a quandary that does interest us. The 
junior editor — who pens this article — is an enthusiastic admirer 
and believer in Pathetism. But the senior is firm, puissant, and 
determined in his disbelief. We say Pathetism is a wondrous, 
unfathomable, and mysterious agency ; he says it’s gammon, twat- 
tle, and moonshine. We call it a miraculous somnolence; he 
says it’s malversation dwindled to nothing. We assert those ex¬ 
periments are bona fide miracles ; he reiterates they are mala fide 
humbugs. And thus we stand — the junior’s vote is one, and the 
senior’s vote is one also. We can tie him, and he can tie us. 
We bring up strong and tangible evidence of its truthfulness, and 
he knocks it down with palpable facts and pugilistic arguments. 
As the lawyers say, we remain in statu quo! Brother Sunder¬ 
land, do come and pathetize us both — nolens volens ! — Woon¬ 
socket Patriot , Jan. 17, 1845. 

John Brown in Springfield. 

About eight years ago, Old Brown resided in Springfield, in 
this State. He was recognized as of an eccentric cast of charac¬ 
ter. His dress was peculiar and calculated to excite mirth by its 


396 


PATHETISM. 


outre appearance. While there he attended Dr. Osgood’s 
church, and was remarkable for his extreme views on the slavery 
question, Dr. Osgood himself being ultra on that subject. 

As an illustration of Brown’s firmness, or stubbornness of char¬ 
acter, we will state the following incident, of which we were an 
eye witness. Mr. LaRoy Sunderland gave one of his peculiar 
lectures upon animal magnetism, in Hampden Hall, in the course 
of which he put his subject, a young lady, in an unconscious 
state, and then subjected her to various tests to prove her abnor¬ 
mal condition. While doing so, Brown arose, and exclaimed in 
an excited manner, “ I am a sceptic. I can do all the young lady 
can in my natural state.” 

“ Will the gentleman be seated ? ” asked Mr. Sunderland. 
“ When the lecture is completed, I will endeavor to satisfy him.” 

After the lecture was concluded, Mr. Sunderland asked Mr. 
Browm to come forward and submit to the tests. The first was 
to cover the neck and shoulders of the young lady with cowhage, 
which was done by one of the physicians of that town, who put 
on gloves for the purpose, and thoroughly rubbed it in. Brown 
then laid bare his neck and breast, and submitted to the same 
without flinching. The young lady was then awakened, when she 
uttered the most terrific screams; but Brown maintained the 
greatest coolness and sangfroid. 

The next test was, after putting the young lady to sleep again, 
to place to her nostrils a bottle of hartshorn, which made- no im¬ 
pression upon her. This was then placed to the nose of Old 
Browrn, who bore it for a while, the only effect being to cause him 
to swallow, upon noticing w'hich the boys in the gallery exclaimed, 
“ He swallows it.” However, Mr. Brown’s firmness w r as not proof 
against the impossible, and he soon threw his head aside, giving 
the peculiar expiration of one who takes an overdose of ammo¬ 
nia. At this the boys set up a shout of triumph, and Old Brown 
retired, vanquished. 

We shall never forget his appearance as he stood upon that 
platform: his hair frizzled and cropped short to his head; his 
features sharp and angular, and expressing the utmost determi¬ 
nation ; his pantaloons coming down scarcely more than half wt.y 
from his knees to his shoes, which were large and coarse — gave 
him a strange and outre appearance, not easily forgotten. — Bos¬ 
ton Journal , Dec. 2, 1859. 

Opposition. 

Mr. Sunderland has favored our citizens with a course of four 
lectures on the subject of Pathetism, in the delivery of which much 


INCIDENTALS. 


397 


information has been communicated. A number of individuals 
among the audience were entranced, and experiments sufficiently 
satisfactory to every unprejudiced mind were performed. Mr. S. 
has met with opposition here, from the opposers of this science, 
in almost every shape, especially on the last evening, and the au¬ 
dience gave an expression of their feelings in regard to the man¬ 
ner in which Mr. S. had conducted himself during the opposition, 
by the passage of the following vote unanimously, with the ex¬ 
ception of the one gentleman who had disturbed the meeting, and 
deprived the audience of witnessing some experiments which the 
lecturer intended to exhibit that evening, had not the time been 
thus wasted. 

Voted, That the thanks of this audience be presented to Mr. 
Sunderland for the valuable information which he has imparted 
during these lectures, and for his gentlemanly and satisfactory 
conduct in meeting the opposition this evening; and that he be 
requested to lecture again in this place, as soon as his engage¬ 
ments will permit. 

Mr. S. thanked the audience for this expression of their feel¬ 
ings, and stated that his other engagements forbid him lecturing 
here immediately, but that in the course of the season he would 
again return and lecture. We hope our friends in Georgetown 
will give him a fair and candid hearing. — Haverhill Gazette , 
June 22, 1844. 


Wonderful. 

In compliance with a request made by Mr. Sunderland, I at¬ 
tended his lecture on Saturday night last, in the Odd Fellows’ 
Hall, for the purpose of testing the possibility of his power to 
produce in an individual such a state of insensibility, (without 
the aid of opiates,) as to permit the extraction of a tooth, with¬ 
out experiencing pain. Passing by the numerous, and, to me, 
truly extraordinary phenomena exhibited by his subjects, (five 
in number,) who were on the platform, I proceed at once to 
make a plain statement of the facts, relative to the operation per¬ 
formed by myself. Mrs. Simpson, (the patient,) a lady whose 
appearance indicates ill health, and a high state of nervous irri¬ 
tability, was seated in an arm chair facing the audience, in what 
Mr. S. denominated a state of trance; her countenance was 
calm, unruffled — exhibited a state of perfect repose — pulse soft 
but frequent, numbering 120 beats to the minute. Mr. S. hav¬ 
ing withdrawn a few paces from her, requested me to “ go on.” 
I proceeded to cut the gum around the tooth, which I did very 

34 


898 


PATHETISM. 


to each other — indeed, so much curved that in the effort 
to extract, about one half of the 'palatine , or inner root, was 
broken off— had not this occurred, the fracture of the bone which 
forms the socket would have been the necessary result to the 
force used in extracting it. I immediately felt her pulse ; the ac¬ 
tion had increased to 145 beats. During the whole operation, 
which continued about three minutes, her countenance exhibited 
no change — it wore the same calm and placid aspect. There was 
no shrinking— no emotion of the hands, nor indeed any muscular 
movement in her whole system, with the slightest sensation of 
pain. A corpse could not have been more passive in the hands of 
a dissector. Had she been in the full, or even partial possession 
of the sense of feeling, I am satisfied that she must have exhib¬ 
ited, at least, some evidence of suffering; for in an ordinary state 
the extraction of such a tooth would have been attended with 
excruciating pain, which can be felt, not described. If this lady 
did experience it, she must be blessed with far greater powers of 
endurance than usually belongs to mankind; but all who knew 
her are aware that she is now, and has been for years, from ill 
health and nervous derangement, very timid, and always shrinks 
from pain. 

You ask me what I think of it ? I hardly know what to think 
— here are the facts. I can offer no theory, give no explana¬ 
tion, but I cannot disbelieve the evidence of my own senses, nor 
doubt the reality of the phenomena developed by what Mr. Sun¬ 
derland denominates Pathetism.—Portsmouth (Va.) New Era, 
Jan. 14, 1847. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Wm. N. McKENNEY, Dentist. 

Mental Philosophy. 

We mentioned in our last paper, very briefly, that Mr. Sun¬ 
derland was lecturing on this deeply-interesting subject in Nor¬ 
folk. We have not yet heard him, from the hope that he would 
come across the Elizabeth after he had finished there — and we 
trust that we shall not be disappointed. Mr. Sunderland has de¬ 
voted many years to the study of his subject, and made advances 
that Mesmer, nor any of his disciples, ever dreamed of. His 
advertisements and announcements show a stride in the science 
that must astonish the philosophical mind. It is a matter of sur¬ 
prise to us that there should be any want of an audience when 
he lectures, as we regret to learn there is. The people of Nor¬ 
folk certainly do not know who they have among them, or the 
talent and wisdom of that city would fill Odd Fellows’ Hall every 
night. We have been acquainted with Mr. Sunderland, through 


INCIDENTALS. 


390 


his writings, for many years, and have watched his labors until 
the present with some anxiety, and are glad that he is now among 
us. His was the first work we ever read on the subject of Mes¬ 
merism—-it was a small pamphlet; the subject was at that time 
in its incipiency — from that reading we became a believer, and 
every fresh examination has confirmed our faith. — New Era , 
Portsmouth (Va.), Jan. 7, 1847. 

Pathetism and Surgery. 

The many surgical operations performed by Mr. Sunderland 
during his first course of lectures on Pathetism, in Philadelphia, 
were deeply interesting, and beautifully illustrative of the truth 
of the theory which he teaches. But the most satisfactory one, 
of several which we witnessed, was that presented on the last 
evening of his entertainments at Franklin Hall. Dr. Johnson 
had been announced as the gentleman by whom the tooth was to 
be extracted; but in his unavoidable absence Dr. Asay was called 
for, and he consented to proceed with the operation, rather than 
that the audience should remain in suspense or be disappointed 
in their expectations. The hall was crowded with ladies and 
gentleman, intensely occupied with the proceedings on the plat¬ 
form, and the utmost order and attention prevailed. The lady 
was led upon the platform, and placed in a state of unconscious 
trance. The arm was paralyzed, and the candlestick with its light 
placed in her hand. The arm and hand were rigidly contracted, 
and moved not, while the light from the wick shone full upon the 
face of the patient, and by it the dentists in conference examined 
the tooth. It was also examined by others, one of whom, at 
least, withheld all faith from what had been assumed for Pathe¬ 
tism. Dr. Asay brought his instruments in contact with the 
tooth for the purpose of extracting it. It was a moment of in¬ 
tense interest to all present. The tooth for an instant resisted, 
but the firm grasp and determined skill of the hand which held 
the instrument did not falter till it. was loosened from the socket, 
and held up to the view of the relieved and gratified multitude 
present. It was an upper tooth of the left jaw. A burst of ap¬ 
plause followed the result of the experiment, during which not a 
muscle of the patient moved, nor was the slightest indication of 
pain on her part manifested. It was triumphantly satisfactory. 
Such w r as the statement of those in immediate contact with the 
lady—such the undivided testimony of the audience. But Mr. 
Sunderland announced that he did not consider the experiment 
finished until the lady was restored again to the conscious state. 
After this was effected, he asked the lady if she was aware of 
any thing particular having transpired P She answered, that she 


400 


PATHETISM. 


was not. He asked her if she would now have her tooth drawn ? 
She said she would. He then requested her to point out the af¬ 
fected tooth to the dentist at her side, that he might know which 
one to extract. She put her finger to the gum, but the tooth was 
gone. What had transpired before the audience flashed upon 
her mind in an instant, and though she must have felt gratified, 
she was also, for a moment, disconcerted. The sceptics on the 
platform were called upon to give their opinions. One of them 
stated candidly that his disbelief in Pathetism had been entire¬ 
ly dispelled. Such is the answer, we believe, of all candid 
minds who have carefully attended the lectures ~*f Mr. Sunder¬ 
land, whatever may have been their previous prejudices. — Phil¬ 
adelphia Galaxy - March 6, 1847. 


INDEX 


A. 

Accounted for, 391. 
Advertisement, 23. 

Alchemy, 38. 

Alexander, Herr, 391. 
Animal magnetism, 52. 
Apparition, 40. 

Astonishing results, 340, 358. 


B. 

Barking exercise, 186. 

Bewitch — To, defined, 61. How 
people become so, 74. 

Blind — Young lady struck, in 
Baltimore, 138. Clairvoyants, 
222 . 

Boston, lectures in, 314. 

Brackett, Miss Loriana, the blind 
clairvoyant, 222. 

Bridgman, Laura, 220. 

Brown, John, in Springfield, 395. 

Bull, Ole, 211. 

Bush, Rev. George, 37. 


C. 

Cape Cod, revival on, 12. 

Carey, Mr., case of, whose thigh 
was amputated, 134. 


Catalepsy, 41. 

Cautions, 376 

Challenge, a, 24. 

Characteristics of all revivals, 10. 

Charm — The, 62. By a snake, 
140. 

Chloroform —Failures in the use 
of, 136. Human, 137, 391. Cu¬ 
rious case, 158. 

Clairvoyance — What is meant 
by the term, 41. Of Ann E. 
Hall, 221, 224, 226. Of Miss 
Brackett, 222. Of M. J. Mason, 
224. Of Miss Ryder, 227. Of 
Miss Mattocks, the blind girl, 
222, 231. Of Mr. Collins, 231. 
Case reported by Deacon Moody, 
231. Over-estimated, 233, 238. 
Diagnosis, 261. Clairvoyant feats 
in music, 245. Age of, 245. Con¬ 
ditions of, 246. Methods for test¬ 
ing, 248. 

Clergymen — Converted by the 
author, 16. Entranced in his 
lectures, 36. 

Combe, George, 212. 

Consciousness, double, 253. 

Conversion — Of persons under 
the author’s preaching, 12. Of 
clergymen, 16. 

Convulsions, religious, 189. 

Credulity appealed to in all revi¬ 
vals, 10. 


34 * 


(401) 




402 


INDEX. 


Crime from sympathy, 103. 
Curious, 388. 


D. 

Daughter, who had her tooth drawn 
without pain, 160. 

Death — Immediate, how caused, 
139. Sudden, anticipated, 143. 

Demonstrations in Pathetism 
—Revivals, 311. In Boston, 314- 
332. Providence, 334. New Bed¬ 
ford, 336. Philadelphia, 345-347. 
Lowell, 343, 359, 360, 362. New 
York, 344. Portsmouth, Va., 
345. Springfield, Mass., 347. 
Worcester, Mass., 349. Pitts¬ 
burg, Pa., 350. Cincinnati, 351. 
Norfolk, Va., 359. Portland, 
Me., 356. Nantucket, 338, 365. 
Salem, 353. Northampton, 341. 
Newport, 340. Troy, 336. 

Dentistry and Pathetism, 343. 

Devil — In revivals, 15. Secta¬ 
rian converts see him, 16. No 
revival can be got up without 
him, 16. 

Diagnosis, clairvoyant, 261. 

Diseases — Caused by sympathy, 
104. Cured by faith, 108, 368, 
370. 

Diverted, how the mind is, from 
the sense of pain, 159, 161. 

Double consciousness, 42, 253. 

Doubts removed, 355. 

Dow, Lorenzo, his testimony as to 
the religious jerks, 193. 

Dreaming — Similar to the trance, 
200. Ancient, 202. Interesting 
cases of, 203. Case of Mr. Wil¬ 
liams, 206. Case of the two sis¬ 
ters, 208. Sir Henry Wotton, 


210. Presentiments in, 205, 259. 
Alluded to in the classics, 202. 
Of Mr. Pendleton, 204. Mr. Wil¬ 
liams, of Scorrier, 206. 
Drugging, methods of, not reliable, 
265. 


E. 

Ecclesiastic, the young, referred 
to by the Bishop of Bordeaux, 
123.' 

Ecstasy — Term defined, 43. This 
state induced, 324. 

Editor — Of the Boston Olive 
Branch, paralyzed by Pathetism, 
36. In Salem, Mass., whose 
tooth was drawn without his 
knowledge, 159. 

Electricity — Not vitality, 55, 
244. This term not appropriate 
to vital phenomena, 37. “ Elec¬ 
tros,” 26. Charlatanry under 
this term, 56. Nerves are bad 
conductors of, 58. 

Entranced — Under the author’s 
preaching, 9, 16. Spontaneous, 
114-126. Papists, 127. Self, 243. 

Enchantment, 63. 

Epidemics — Mental, 307. The 
soil on which they flourish, 154. 
The preaching, 291. 

Excitements— Popular, 87. Char¬ 
acteristics, 292. Great, 350. 

Exercises, religious, 186. 

Exhalations thrown off from the 
human body unhealthy, 85. 

Experiments — In Pathetism, 
when commenced, 18. Wonder¬ 
ful, 323,346. Extraordinary, 334. 
Satisfactory, 354. 

Extraordinary experiments, 334. 



INDEX. 


403 


F. 

Facts and experiments, 25. 

Fahnstock, Dr. W. B., 257. 

Faith—P ower of, 108. Life saved 
by it, 144. Diseases cured by it, 
145. Stronger than physic, 145. 

Fallacy, 183. 

Fanaticism, 104. 

Fancy, 162. 

Farmer, case of the young, in Eng¬ 
land, 138. 

Fascination, 64, 198. 

Fluid, notions of a, unfounded, 172. 

Force — The odylic, so called, 183. 
Not a force, 88. The human 
mind cannot be forced, 184. 

Freedom of the human will, 184. 

Funny, 390. 


G. 

Gall, Dr. — Case described by, 
121. Cases stated to him, 122. 

Galvanism the cause of death, 58. 

Ghosts — Term defined, 44. De¬ 
scription of, 381. 

Great revival, 338. 

Great excitement, 350. 

Gregory, Dr. W., his objections to 
the term “ electro-psychology,” 
37. 

H. 

Habit — Laws of, 73. Power of, 
107. Habitude for the trance, 
169. 

Hall, Miss Ann E., 221, 224. 

Hallucination — Term defined, 
45. Not “ fact,” 179. 

‘Hearing, double, 257. 


Hereditary hate, 35. 

Historical, 9. 

Hit, a, 381. 

Holy Ghost, 11. 

House warming, 14. 

Human — Nature, 318. Chloro¬ 
form, 137. Volition, 168. Will¬ 
power, 170. 

Hypnotism, 53. 

I. 

Idea — Defined, 163. In Pathe- 
tism, 19. Power of, 371. Of 
Pathetism, 26. Leading, in sci¬ 
ence, 76. 

Ideal, 163. 

Ideopathy —Defined, 302. Illus¬ 
trative cases, 308. 

Idiosyncrasy — Defined, 79. In 
our nature, 80. Illustrative cases, 
308. 

Illusion, 46. 

Imagination — Defined, 47, 163. 
Not the power which cures, 162. 
Misuse of this term, 165. 

Imitation, sympathetic, 100. 

Incantation, 64. 

Influence — The, of mystery, 
144. Of fear, 142. Human, 363. 

Intuition — Defined, 210. Inter¬ 
esting facts, 212. 

Invisible world, 198. 

Involuntary — Actions, 182. 
Mental states, 186. Nervous 
phenomena, 200. 


J. 

Jerks, religious, 190. 

Jews, the talisman among them, 67. 
Just rebuke, 393. 



404 


INDEX 


K. 

Kentucky revival, strange exer¬ 
cises in, precisely similar to the 
phenomena since known under 
the name of Pathetism and Spir¬ 
itism, 187. 

Keystone to Pathetism, 19. 

Knowledge — Human, on what 
it depends, 211. Intuitive, 210. 


L. 

Lad who had his tooth drawn with¬ 
out pain, 160. 

Lady — “ Under the influence,” 
15. Curious case of a, 158. In 
New York, killed, 301. Who 
had a toe nail drawn out without 
pain, 160. 

Lame — Man cured by faith, 147. 
Woman cured by faith, and un¬ 
cured for the want of it, 152. 

Land of dreams, 322. 

Laugh, “ the holy,” 196. 

Lawrence, terrible calamity in, 143. 

Lectures — When commenced, 
23. On the human soul, 331. 
Gratuitous, 332. In Boston, 314. 
In Providence, 333. In New 
Bedford, 336. In Troy, 336. 
In Nantucket, 339. In New¬ 
port, R. I., 340. In Lowell, 
342. On Pathetism, 348. In 
Salem, 353. In Worcester, 349. 
In Philadelphia, 348. In Port¬ 
land, 356. In Norfolk, Va., 359. 
In Pittsburg, 350. In Cincin¬ 
nati, 351. 

Leg, the, amputated by a chain 
cable, 157. 

Letter — To G. F. Oakes, 25. 


From Dr. Buchanan, 29. To the 
editor of the Boston Post, 30. 

“ Losing strength,” in religious 
exercises, 15. 

Love, the motive of action, 183. 


M. 

Mahan, review of, 85. 

Marvellousness, 68. 

Magic, 64. 

Magnet —The, edited by the au¬ 
thor, 17. Illustrated, 105. 

Magnetism — Misuse of the term, 
37, 68. Illustration, 105. Effects 
of, on the nerves, 244. 

Mania — The trance, 112. Secta¬ 
rian, 102. Characteristics of, 
195. 

Mattocks, Miss Mary, the blind 
clairvoyant, 228. 

Maxim, a sound one, 295. 

Mental — Spheres, 99. Conta¬ 
gion, 101. Epidemics, 307. Sci¬ 
ence, 237. 

Mesmerism — First experiment 
Avitnessed by the Author, 10. 

Method — In Pathetism, 19. Con¬ 
ditions for the induction of arti¬ 
ficial phenomena, 363. How to 
succeed, 365. The secret, 366. 
The poAver, 370. The idea, 371. 
Mysterious, 371. To produce the 
trance, 372. To be remembered, 
375. Cautions, 376. Self-en- 
trancement, 378. 

Methodist lady entranced, 125. 

Miracle — Defined, 47. Of heal¬ 
ing, 152. 

Moody, Deacon N., 231. 

Mysterious —Human nature, 318. 
Surgical operations, 342. The, 



INDEX. 


405 


process of life, 371. Gist of the, 
302. 

N. 

N eryotjs — Phenomena, 289. Re¬ 
sults in the Author’s lectures, 
196, 358. 

Neurology —Defined, 54. State¬ 
ment of the reasons why it can¬ 
not be relied upon, 80. 

New science, 26. 

Niagara, case of the young lady 
who perished there, 141. 

Nichols, Mrs. Agnes, remarkable 
case of, 148. 

Nicoli, M., visions of, 284. 


O. 

Od — The so-called, defined, 54. 

Not a “ force,” 83. 

Opposition to Pathetism, 33, 396. 


P. 

Painless tooth-drawing, 398. 

Papists —“Miracles,” 127. Trance 
among them identical with those 
states induced by Pathetism, 128. 
What they cannot be ignorant 
of, 131. Cures by relics, 146. 

Paris —Experiments lately per¬ 
formed in, 19. The operator, 20. 

Parker, Rev. Theodore, 288. 

Pathetism — Defined, 30, 69. Op¬ 
position to, from mesmerists, 33. 
And the Boston Olive branch, 
35. And tobacco, 336. Won¬ 
ders of, 314. What is it ? 332. 
Tested, 347. Lectures on, 331. 


What is explained by it, 75. 
The rule of, 76. A distinct sys¬ 
tem of mental philosophy, 77. 
Lectures on, 348. In Worcester, 
349. In Pittsburg, 350. In Cin¬ 
cinnati, 351. In Portland, 356. 
In Norfolk, Va., 398. And sur¬ 
gery, 399. 

Pepper, that, 385. 

Perkins’s tractors, 19, 20. 
Persecution, 386. 

Phantasy, 48. 

Phenomena — Nervous, 19, 359. 
Three questions, 70. Super¬ 
natural, 289. Remarks on, 296. 
Strange, 329. 

Philosophy of Pathetism, 72. 
Philters, 65. 

Phrenopathy, 52. 

Popular excitement, 97, 292. 
Portland Bulletin, case referred to 
in, 122. 

Power — Of God, 10, 11, 15. Of 
habit, 107. Of faith, 108. Of an 
idea, 108. Of self-induction, 138. 
Faith and hope, 152. Of the mind 
over one’s own nervous system, 
162. The, which often compels 
us, 185. 

Preaching, effects of the Author’s, 
196. 

Precocity, 212. 

Presentiments, 259. 

Principles of Pathetism, 72. 
Psychometry — Defined, 266. 

Tested, 270. New phase of, 271. 
Public meeting in Boston, 27. 


R. 

Rebuke, a just, 393. 

Relation — In Pathetism, 73, 



406 


INDEX. 


What it is, 104. Between the 
earth and sun, 106. 

Relics, 65, 146. 

Remembered, to be, 375. 

Revenge of a somnambule, 386. 

Revival — Religious, under the 
author’s preaching, 9,10,12. In 
Kentucky, 186. How to be ac¬ 
counted for, 292, 311. 

Reward, 133. 

Riechenbach — German writer, 
81. Estimate of his views, 82. 
Review of his writings, 83, 270. 

Rolling exercise, 193. 

Running exercise, 194. 

Ryder, Miss Jane C., 227. 


S. 

Salem, Mass. — Remarkable case 
in, 131. Witchcraft, 353. Lec¬ 
tures in, 353. 

Satisfactory experiments, 354. 

Sceptics convinced, 355. 

Science — Of Pathetism, 38. Psy- 
chometry not a, 274. Mental, 
327. 

Second sight, 48. 

Secret, the, of Pathetism, 366. 

Sectarian — Characteristics, 10. 
Mania, 102. 

Self-Induction — Term defined, 
135. Case of the young farmer, 
138. Case of blindness cured by, 
140. Case of a man charmed by 
a snake, 140. Case of a young 
lady who perished at Niagara 
Falls, 141. Young lady cured 
by prayer, 148. Lameness cured 
and uncured, 152. Young man 
self-convicted of perjury, 154. 
The power of love, 155. A cler¬ 


gyman wounded in battle, 156. 
A doctor unconsciously wounded 
in Great Falls, N. H., 156. A 
man’s leg amputated by a chain 
cable, 157. Teeth drawn without 
pain, 158. Remarkable case in 
Salem, Mass., 159. Toe nail 
drawn out without pain, 160. 

Senses — How many, 78, 132. 
Transposed, 213. 

Sensitives — Described, 84. Not 
reliable, as many suppose, 84. 

Sermon — The first one, effects of, 
by the Author, 10. Lady en¬ 
tranced under one, 16. 

Sight, the, how restored, 140. 

Singular, 358. 

Sleep, 201. 

Soldiers insensible to pain, 138. 

Solemn and impressive, 387. 

Somnambule, revenge of a, 386. 

Somnambulism, 49. 

Somnipathy, 49. 

Soul, the human, 331. 

Space to be understood in certain 
cases, 150. 

Spectre, 49. 

Spell, the, 66. 

Sphere, 78, 97. 

Spiritism — How people become 
“ possessed,” 74. Failure of 
promises, 114. Tested, 271. Me¬ 
diums, 296. 

Spirit world, 328. 

Strange phenomena, 329. 

Struck down by the power of 
God, 13. 

Suffering poor, the, 389. 

Suit against the Author, 389. 

Surgery — Unparalleled, 336. 
Without pain, 341. 

Swedenborg, 279. 

Sympathy — Defined, 49. Imita- 



INDEX. 


407 


tion, 100. Diseases cured by, 
103. Crimes caused by, 103. 
Fanaticism from, 104. Case of 
the Frenchman, 185. 


T. 

Talisman, the, 66. 

Telegraphic faculty of the soul, 250. 
Tennant, Rev. W., Case of, 126. 
Terminology, 40. 

Test — Of the human will, 170. 

Two wills, 170. Of spirits, 171. 
Theory — Of Pathetism, 17, 30, 
77. New, of mind, 361. Star¬ 
tling, 294. 

Thought — Defined, 163. Read¬ 
ing, 238. 

Tobacco and Pathetism, 336. 
Tooth-drawing, painless, 398. 
Trance — This term defined, 50. 
The state defined, 109^ Ma¬ 
nia, 112. Spontaneous, 114-126. 
Among the Papists, 127. Self- 
induced, 243. What it is, 320. 
How to produce, 372. The se¬ 
cret, 366. 

Transposition of the senses, 213. 
Tremont Temple, lectures in, 148. 
Tumor cured by Pathetism, 148. 

U. 

Unparalled surgery, 336. 


Upham, Prof., case reported by, 

112 . 

Y. 

Views, original, in respect to the 
identity of religious and mes¬ 
meric phenomena, 17. 

Vision —Without the eye, 221, 
231. Of mediums, 275. Tested, 
276. 

“Vital electricity” not a good 
term, 60. 

Volition —Definition of, 168. Re¬ 
sults falsely attributed to, 173. 
Controversy respecting, 174. In 
clairvoyants, 242. 


W. 

Warts, how cured, 51. 

Watchman, the New York, 17. 

What can it be ? 384. 

Will — The human, 168. Two 
wills, 170. In what sense it is 
free, 184. The trance from the 
243. 

Wise, John, Mr. — the aeronaut, 
case of, 124. 

Witchcraft — How caused, 154 
The Salem, 353. 

Wonderful, 397. 

Wonderful experiments, 323, 339 
344, 346. 

Wonders of Pathetism, 314. 
























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